Former President Donald Trump has threatened a $5 billion lawsuit against the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, over a report that concluded his deployments of National Guard troops in U.S. cities did not significantly reduce violent crime. Trump denounced the report on social media as a "Radical Left SCAM" and vowed legal action, asserting that crime has decreased since he took office.
The CAP report analyzed crime data in cities where Trump deployed National Guard troops, including Washington, D.C. According to the analysis, crime rates in the capital had been declining for two years prior to Trump's presidency and were already at a multi-decade low. The report determined that Trump's claims of credit for these trends were unsubstantiated.
CAP also estimated that extending the National Guard deployments through the end of 2026 could cost taxpayers over $1.7 billion. Trump's personal lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent a letter to CAP demanding the report be retracted and an apology issued, setting a Friday deadline with the closing statement: "PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELVES ACCORDINGLY."
In response, CAP lawyer Kevin H. Metz described the letter as "utterly absurd," stating that "Truth is not and cannot be defamation." CAP President and CEO Neera Tanden reaffirmed the organization's commitment to its findings, vowing not to "cower nor bend" in the face of what she called a "transparent attempt to silence us." Tanden further emphasized that CAP is an independent, nonpartisan research organization whose work is based on rigorous, evidence-based analysis. She noted that the organization has a history of publishing analyses on government policies under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Tanden asserted that challenging facts and evidence through lawsuits undermines a fundamental protection of the First Amendment and that public policy disagreements should be resolved through debate, not threats.
National Guard troops were deployed in Washington, D.C. starting in August 2025, among other cities.