During Tuesday night’s presidential debate, former President Donald Trump repeated one of his most notorious racist actions, appearing to defend his decision to run ads calling for the execution of a group of five black and Hispanic teenagers.

Instead of apologizing to the wrongfully convicted teenagers, who are now grown men, Trump used the spotlight he was given to re-convict them.

“They admitted it, they said they were guilty,” Trump said, responding to a comment from Vice President Kamala Harris about his actions.

“And I said, ‘Well, if they plead guilty, then they seriously injured someone, ultimately killed someone, and if they plead guilty,'” he concluded.

One of the acquitted men, Yusef Salaam, approached Trump after the debate, when the former president unexpectedly appeared in the spin room.

“That’s good, you’re on my side!” Trump exclaimed when he saw Salaam, smiling and pointing at him.

Salaam, now a New York City Council member, responded, “No, no, I’m not on your side!”

Then known as the “Central Park Five,” the five teenagers were wrongly accused of raping a jogger in New York City in 1989. Trump spent $85,000 on a full-page ad in The New York Times that read, “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY, BRING BACK OUR POLICE.”

The boys, all aged between 14 and 16, were wrongly imprisoned for between five and 12 years until a serial rapist confessed to the crime. DNA confirmed he had committed the crime.

Four of the now-adult men — now known as the “Exonerated Five” — appeared on stage at the Democratic National Convention last month and reminded the audience that Trump somehow still stands by the original verdict.

“Today we are acquitted because the real perpetrator confessed and DNA proved it,” Salaam told the crowd.

“He rejects the scientific evidence instead of admitting he was wrong. He has never changed and he never will. This man thinks hate is the driving force in America. It is not.”