Trump insists the Central Park 5 are guilty -- despite their exoneration and $41 million settlement

The five men who were wrongfully accused of raping a jogger in Central Park in 1989 have been exonerated -- but don't tell that to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In response to a CNN report on Trump's role in ginning up public anger at the so-called Central Park Five, Trump said that he still believed that the five men in the case were guilty -- even though their convictions were overturned and they were awarded a settlement of $41 million related to their wrongful imprisonment.

"They admitted they were guilty," Trump said. "The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same."

The five men were exonerated for allegedly raping a woman named Trisha Meili after DNA evidence revealed that she had actually been sexually assaulted a man named Matias Reyes, who had confessed to being responsible for the assault. Their convictions were vacated shortly afterward and the five men were released in 2002.

Trump back in 1989 took out an ad in the New York Times that used the Central Park Five case as a reason why the state of New York needed to bring back the death penalty.