President Donald Trump has initiated legal action against the Center for American Progress (CAP), a left-leaning think tank, after it claimed that deploying the National Guard in various cities did not affect crime rates.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump cited remarks from Chandler Hall, CAP’s Associate Director of Public Safety. He mentioned that a lawsuit “is being drawn now” and hinted at potentially including some contributors of the organization in this legal action.
Earlier, on August 10, Trump shared a similar message on Truth Social.
Trump criticized Hall’s comments, where Hall suggested that the National Guard’s presence in cities, including Washington, D.C., had “NO impact on Crime.” Trump described this assertion as quite absurd and noted that Hall faced significant backlash. He labeled the report as another “Radical Left SCAM,” accusing various high-profile contributors like George Soros and major corporations of supporting what he termed a group of “Lunatics.”
Trump also pointed out that entities like the Embassy of Japan, the Korea Foundation, and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates have provided foreign funding to CAP.
He added, “The Dumocrats love it, and are against anything ‘TRUMP.’ These people, along with others, are detrimental to our Country. They generate nothing but hate or disdain for ‘TRUMP.’
The report by Hall asserts that the Trump administration is attempting to take credit for a notable decrease in violent crime across the U.S., which actually began before Trump took office:
The second Trump administration is claiming credit for the historic decrease in violent crime across America, ignoring that this trend started before his presidency. It is using these reductions to justify unpopular, ineffective, and costly policies. Despite data showing that violent crime and homicides were decreasing in American cities in 2023 and 2024, the Trump administration has continued to pressure city and state leaders while claiming that extreme measures, like deploying the National Guard, are enhancing public safety.
However, the analysis from the Center for American Progress finds no evidence supporting that National Guard deployments have led to a reduction in violent crime. If these deployments extend through the end of 2026, the financial burden on American taxpayers could exceed $1.7 billion.
The report further emphasizes that Trump is taking advantage of the decline in violent crime and murder rates in cities targeted by his administration:
To falsely assert that his policies have lowered crime, the president is leveraging the ongoing declines in violent crime and murder in cities affected by extreme measures. On average, the 11 cities where the National Guard was deployed or considered for deployment experienced a 14 percent reduction in their 12-month rolling violent crime rate and a 22 percent decrease in the murder rate from June 2024 to June 2025, even before the National Guard was first sent to Los Angeles.
CAP’s analysis also pointed out that the National Guard has been dispatched to cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans to manage crime and riots.
According to a report from Breitbart News’s Hannah Knudsen in August 2025, overall violent crime in Washington, D.C. dropped by 22 percent in the week following Trump’s announcement of intensified law enforcement efforts, with “no murders reported in the city over the last seven days.”
