Trump sidesteps question of apology to Central Park 5

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is refusing to apologize to the five men wrongly convicted of rape in the 1989 Central Park Five case, saying “they admitted their guilt.”

Responding to a reporter’s statement that the men were exonerated, Trump said Tuesday, “You have people on both sides of that.”

Trump took out full-page newspaper ads at the time calling for five to receive the death penalty.

The five black and Hispanic men were teenagers when they were convicted. They said their confessions were coerced.

Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after evidence linked a serial rapist to the crime.

New York City reached a roughly $41 million settlement with the five without admitting wrongdoing.

Trump says some prosecutors believe the city should never have settled in the case.