Ava Duvernay clapped back at Donald Trump this weekend after the president tried to defend two former White House staffers who had to resign due to domestic violence allegations.
The president called for justice for Rob Porter and David Sorensen, two former aides whose ex-wives recently revealed years of brutal violence in their marriages.
“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation,” Trump tweeted. “Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused – life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”
Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?
Duvernay pushed back at the president’s hypocrisy in asking for “due process” when he failed to do the same for the Central Park Five in 1989.
The infamous and tragic case involved five black and latino teens who were wrongfully convicted for raping and beating a jogger in Central Park. After spending over a decade in prison, they were eventually released in 2002 after DNA evidence proved they were not guilty.
Trump was one of the most vocal during the height of the case. He even reportedly spent over $85,000 on full-page ads in New York City’s major daily newspapers calling for the death penalty of the teens.
Trump still maintains they were guilty as recently as 2016.
Duvernay, who is working on a five-part Netflix miniseries about the case, called Trump out for his “due process” hypocrisy in a tweet that quoted Santana Raymond, one of the Central Park Five.
