10
Loading video...
By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk could be sued for defamation over comments he made about New York City Council member Yusef Salaam, legal experts have told Newsweek.
It comes after Salaam, one of a group of exonerated men formerly known as the Central Park Five, said he was stopped and pulled over by police in the city without an explanation.
Salaam said he "was listening in to a call with my Council colleagues on speakerphone" when he was stopped in Harlem on Friday night, The New York Daily News reported.
Read More
Donald Trump Faces Cash Problem4 min read
Trump Loss to E. Jean Carroll Is Bad Sign for His Criminal Trials: Attorney3 min read
Donald Trump Ordered to Pay $83.3 Million in Defamation Trial3 min read
"I introduced myself as Councilman Yusef Salaam, and subsequently asked the officer why I was pulled over," he said. "Instead of answering my question, the officer stated, 'We're done here,' and proceeded to walk away."
The New York Police Department later said that Salaam had been stopped for driving with dark tint beyond legal limits. The officer conducted himself "professionally and respectfully" throughout the interaction, and used discretion to allow Salaam to complete his official duties, the NYPD said in a statement.
After the incident, Kirk, the co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, attacked Salaam on social media.
Salaam "once once took part in the gruesome gang rape of a jogger in Central Park" and "is now furious that an NYPD officer dared to pull him over for having illegally tinted windows," Kirk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the Daily News article.
...
"Salaam wasn't even arrested or given a ticket, but after getting away with gang rape he apparently thinks he deserves to be completely above the law. What a disgusting pig."
Newsweek contacted Salaam for comment via email on Monday. Kirk was contacted for comment via direct message on X on Monday morning. This article will be updated if either responds. The post appeared to have been removed after Newsweek contacted Kirk for comment.
Kirk said later on X: "I deleted an earlier tweet about New York city councilman Yusef Salaam because I think additional details and context are warranted.
"Many people, even on the right, think the Central Park Five case is a story of five completely innocent men, railroaded at random by a racist justice system, who have now been fully and totally exonerated beyond doubt. This is not true and I'll explain why."
His post explaining his reasoning can be read here.
Salaam could sue Kirk for defamation over the original comments—and win, according to legal experts.
Salaam and four Black or Latino men were falsely accused and convicted of raping and beating a white jogger in New York City's Central Park in 1989. Salaam was 15 when he was arrested and was imprisoned for almost seven years. All five of the men's convictions were overturned through DNA evidence.
Kirk's statement is "false and defamatory," Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University, told Newsweek.
"Since Salaam is a public official and a public figure, Salaam would have to prove that Kirk acted with malice, which means showing that Kirk knew his statement was false or recklessly disregarded the truth. Salaam was exonerated of the crime. It was a huge public fact. If Kirk didn't know that, he must be living on another planet. A lawsuit by Salaam would be appropriate and winnable."
...
Sandra Baron, a visiting clinical lecturer in law at Yale Law School, agreed that Salaam would likely win such a lawsuit.
"He could sue for defamation," Baron told Newsweek. "And he would likely win fairly handily unless there are new facts known that undermine his exoneration."
Baron noted that many of the responses to Kirk's post also suggested that Salaam could sue for defamation. "At least one noted the large verdict handed down a few days ago against Donald Trump," she said.
A jury on Friday awarded $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for the former president's continued social media attacks against Carroll over her claims that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store.
Added to the $5 million sexual assault and defamation verdict last year from another jury in a case brought by Carroll, it raised the amount Trump must pay her to $88.3 million. Trump, who denied any wrongdoing, protested the verdict and said he would appeal.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines