Trump Threatens $5 Billion Defamation Suit Against Liberal Think Tank Over National Guard Crime Report

President Donald Trump is reportedly threatening to hit the Center for American Progress with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit after the liberal think tank published research challenging his claims about National Guard deployments and violent crime.

Trump’s personal attorney, Alejandro Brito, informed the organization in a Monday letter that the president would pursue legal action unless CAP withdrew its report, issued an apology and provided Trump with financial compensation, according to a Friday report from The New York Times.

The organization was given until 5 p.m. Friday to comply with the demands. Brito’s letter concluded with the warning, “PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELVES ACCORDINGLY.”

The dispute centers on a July 13 analysis published by CAP examining crime trends in Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis before and during Trump’s National Guard deployments.

Researchers examined homicide, violent crime and gun victimization statistics dating back to January 2023. The organization said its analysis found “no evidence” linking deployment of the National Guard to later reductions in crime.

Instead, the report argued that Trump was taking credit for a broader decline in crime that had already begun before he returned to office.

CAP also projected that maintaining the National Guard deployments through 2026 would push the total cost to taxpayers above $1.7 billion.

The report went beyond questioning the effectiveness of the deployments and directly criticized the administration’s motives. Its authors claimed the “primary goal” was “never to stop crime” and characterized the deployments as “a dangerous power grab by the Trump administration.”

CAP President Neera Tanden, who previously served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden, rejected Trump’s demands Friday.

Tanden said the organization would “neither cower nor bend in the face” of the threatened lawsuit and defended CAP’s analysis as being “grounded in rigorous, evidence-based research and analysis.”

Trump had already publicly attacked the report before his attorney sent the letter.

The president called the analysis “another Radical Left SCAM” in a Truth Social post last week and threatened CAP along with several of the organization’s financial supporters, including George Soros, according to the Times.

CAP attorney Kevin H. Metz also rejected the defamation allegations Friday.

“This is utterly absurd,” Metz wrote. “Truth is not and cannot be defamation.”

Metz said CAP was prepared to fight Trump in court and noted that the discovery process could potentially provide the organization with access to additional information concerning the National Guard deployments.

Trump, meanwhile, has recently continued touting his record on crime.

Just last week, the president repeatedly claimed that “young beautiful girls” had been coming to the White House to thank him for his work addressing the issue.

The escalating dispute now pits the president against one of the country’s prominent liberal think tanks, with Trump demanding a retraction, apology and compensation while CAP is signaling it has no intention of backing down from its research.