Trump Files Lawsuit Against Center for American Progress Over Crime Study Claims

Former President Donald Trump has announced a lawsuit against the Center for American Progress following a report that National Guard deployments have not reduced crime, while he counters that his policies are responsible for a nationwide crime decline. President Donald Trump has announced a formal lawsuit against the left‑leaning policy institute Center for American Progress (CAP) after the organization released a study claiming that the deployment of the National Guard to several U.S. cities had no measurable effect on crime rates. Trump used his social‑media platform, Truth Social, to voice his outrage and to declare that litigation was already underway. In the post, the former president also hinted at removing certain contributors he labeled members of a "fake organization," accusing the institute's funding sources-ranging from venture capital firms to major non‑profit foundations-of orchestrating a broad political agenda to denigrate his administration. He accused the group of receiving foreign financial support from foreign governments and large multinational corporations while targeting him with what he called a "radical left scam. " The Center for American Progress report, authored by Chandler Hall, the institute's Associate Director of Public Safety, argues that the continued presence of the National Guard in cities such as Washington, D.C. , Los Angeles, and others was largely symbolic and produced no statistically significant decline in violent crime. Hall highlighted that the United States had already been experiencing a sustained decrease in homicide and violent crime rates long before Trump's second term began, attributing the downward trend to broader societal shifts rather than the provocative presence of military forces in urban areas. Hall further warned that extending these deployments through 2026 could cost American taxpayers upwards of $1.7 billion without delivering the promised safety gains. Trump's statements in response to the CAP findings are framed as a defense of his broader law‑and‑order agenda. He rebuffed the analysis by insisting that the administration was, in fact, playing a pivotal role in the declining crime trend. Trump contended that his "fierce crackdown" initiatives and the National Guard's participation contributed directly to the sharp reductions observed in violent crime and murder statistics, particularly in the 11 cities where the troops were first staged. The former president pointed to anecdotal evidence-his own announcement of a crackdown in Washington, D.C. , and a subsequent reported 22 percent drop in violent crime that week as examples of the effectiveness of his policies. The lawsuit that Trump has entered into, according to his Truth Social post, seeks not only to hold the Center for American Progress accountable for what he claims is a politically motivated report but also to punish those he labels as conspirators in a broad anti‑Trump scheme. The allegations include accusations of bias and of collaborating with a list of prominent global donors and corporate entities to sustain opposition to his presidency. While CAP's analysis is being presented as a warning against the potential fiscal and social costs of prolonged National Guard presence in cities, Trump's defense frames the deployment as a decisive protective measure that ostensibly boosts public safety. The dispute underscores the ongoing national debate over the use of federal resources for urban law enforcement, the credibility of data presented by think tanks, and the political ramifications of high‑profile policymaking. Whether the lawsuit will pave the way for deeper scrutiny of CAP's findings or prove to be another chapter in a long‑standing conflict between the former president and progressive policymakers remains to be seen.