MSNBC host Al Sharpton celebrated former President Donald Trump’s indictment in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, claiming it is “spiritual” payback for the racial injustice of Trump’s presidency as well as Trump’s previous call for the death penalty for the so-called “Central Park Five,” the Washington Times reported.
While appearing at a forum at New York University on Tuesday, Sharpton said he found it ironic that Trump was being formally charged on the 55th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination since, as president, Trump “tried to turn back” much of what Martin Luther King did. Sharpton also found it especially ironic since Trump’s comeuppance was done at the hands of a black district attorney.
Sharpton added that Trump’s indictment is payback for the full-page ad Trump took out in 1989 calling for the execution of the five black and Hispanic teenagers who were accused of raping a white woman in Central Park. The so-called “Central Park Five” were later exonerated.
Describing them as “the Exonerated Five,” Sharpton said the five teens weren’t just victims of the justice system. They were also victims of “vitriol and hate” that was “spewed by men like Trump.”
Quoting Martin Luther King, Sharpton said Tuesday’s indictment of Trump is an example of how the arc of history bends toward justice. He said blacks should “celebrate this moment of justice” and “remember the work is not done.”
Sharpton also took glee that Trump is facing a possible indictment from another black district attorney, Fulton County DA Fani Willis in Georgia, who is pursuing Trump over his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
In a statement released last Thursday after the grand jury voted to indict the former president, Sharpton gleefully wrote, “what goes around comes around.”
As in his remarks at NYU, Sharpton’s statement also cited Trump’s call for the death penalty for the Central Park Five.