Trump threatens $5b defamation suit over think tank report on National Guard deployments

Donald Trump has threatened to sue a progressive think tank over a report concluding that his deployment of National Guard troops to major US cities had little effect on reducing violent crime.

According to the New York Times on Friday, Trump's personal attorney Alejandro Brito sent a letter to the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Monday warning that Trump would file a $5 billion defamation lawsuit unless the group retracted the report and apologized to him.

CAP published the report on Thursday, finding that the Trump administration's deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Memphis and other cities had done little to reduce violent crime.

The think tank analyzed data on homicides, violent crime and gun violence in those cities from January 2023 through February of this year. It concluded that no statistically significant link could be found between the troop deployments and changes in crime rates.

The report also said that if the deployments continued through the end of the year, the cost to taxpayers could exceed $1.7 billion.

It characterized the deployments as serving not primarily to curb crime but as a "dangerous power grab" by the Trump administration.

Trump responded on social media when the report was released, calling it "another radical left hoax." About a week later, his team sent the letter to CAP threatening a massive lawsuit if the group did not retract the report and issue an apology.

CAP pushed back. Neera Tanden, the organization's president and CEO, said it would not be intimidated or back down.

"One of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment is the ability to publish facts and analysis that contradict the claims of any administration," she said. "This lawsuit is a brazen attempt to silence us."

The Times said the threat fit a broader pattern in which Trump has increasingly used legal action against media outlets and institutions critical of him.

Since his reelection, Trump has filed a series of lawsuits against major news organizations including the BBC and the Times itself. He also sued the Des Moines Register, a regional Iowa newspaper, alleging election interference after it published a poll ahead of the 2024 presidential election showing him losing the state.

Many of those legal actions have been blocked at the court hearing stage.