Donald Trump indicted: Exonerated member of Central Park Five issues one-word reaction to grand jury news

An exonerated member of the Central Park Five, Yusef Salaam, expressed his reaction to the news of former President Donald Trump’s indictment with a single word. The grand jury indicted Trump on charges related to a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Salaam called the ruling “karma.”

Yusef Salaam was wrongly convicted in the 1989 rape of a 28-year-old jogger but was exonerated by a judge in 2002. Before the exoneration of Salaam and four other black and Latino men, Trump took out a one-page ad calling for the death penalty after the 1989 attack. When announcing his candidacy for the New York City Council, Salaam said, “It would have been okay if Donald Trump had taken out a full-page ad when we were found to be innocent.”

This is the first time a former U.S. president has been criminally charged. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is likely to request Trump’s surrender, which, if complied with, would result in the former president being photographed and fingerprinted in a New York state courthouse.