The Center for American Progress put out a report last month saying the National Guard deployments in Washington, Memphis, and Los Angeles did nothing to cut crime. Cost $1.7 billion, they say, and the numbers don’t move. Crime was already falling before Trump even took office in 2025, so the whole thing was a sham. That’s their story.
Now Trump’s personal lawyer, a man named Alejandro Brito, has sent CAP a letter. Retract the report or face a $5 billion lawsuit. Not the federal government suing. Trump himself, in his personal capacity, going after a think tank that was founded by John Podesta, the same Podesta who ran Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. You connect the dots.
Here’s what gets me. CAP calls itself a research organization. Neera Tanden, who runs the place, put out a statement Friday about speaking truth to power and the First Amendment and how they’ll neither cower nor bend. Beautiful speech. Really moving. This from an outfit that exists to serve the Democratic establishment, that was literally built by Clinton’s inner circle, and that produces “research” reaching conclusions that always, always, just happen to help the left’s narrative. You’re supposed to believe they sat down with the crime data and just followed it wherever it led. Sure they did.
The report says violent crime was already dropping before Trump took office. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. I’ve lived long enough to know that when a liberal think tank tells you the numbers prove their side was right all along, you should check who funded the study, what they counted, what they left out, and how they defined “measurable impact.” These people have been massaging statistics since before most of you were born. Crime data is the easiest thing in the world to manipulate. You pick your start date, you pick your end date, you pick your cities, and suddenly the story writes itself.
Brito’s letter argues the report’s effect on readers is to make them think Trump “knowingly deceived the American people, manipulated crime statistics for political advantage, exploited public fear, abused military and executive authority for an ulterior purpose, staged a sham law enforcement operation, and then lied about its success.” CAP’s response is that their report is about crime statistics and government actions, not about Trump personally, so it can’t defame him.
The National Guard (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia CommonsThat’s a neat little trick. You publish a report saying the president’s signature domestic security deployment was a billion-dollar fraud, and then you say it’s not about him. Who do they think ordered the deployment? Who do they think the report is aimed at? It’s about him from the first sentence to the last, and everybody in that building knows it.
The White House, when asked for comment, said “Can you send us the letter?” Which tells you either they didn’t know about it or they’re playing dumb. Either way, typical.
Five billion dollars is a ridiculous number. It’s meant to be ridiculous. It’s a shock number designed to make CAP’s lawyers sweat and make the board think twice before they fund the next hit piece. Whether it holds up in court is beside the point. The point is that for the first time in a long time, the people who write these reports from their comfortable offices in Washington are the ones being made uncomfortable.
The establishment has spent decades publishing whatever it wants, calling it research, and daring anyone to push back. Podesta’s outfit puts out a report, the media treats it like scripture, and the little guy is supposed to nod along. Trump just told them to put their evidence in front of a judge or shut up. That’s not censorship. That’s a man who’s tired of being lied about by people who think they’re untouchable.
CAP says they won’t bend. Good. Let’s see what happens when the discovery starts.