Washington, D.C. — Lawyers for President Donald Trump issued a letter demanding the Center for American Progress retract a factual report or face a $5 billion lawsuit. That report analyzes the impact of the administration’s deployments of the National Guard in cities around the country, finding that they had no measurable impact on the rate of violent crime reductions.
In response, CAP President and CEO Neera Tanden issued the following statement:
The Center for American Progress is an independent, nonpartisan research organization, and our work is grounded in rigorous, evidence-based research and analysis. Based on analysis of crime data, our report demonstrated facts about the National Guard deployments that are inconvenient to the Trump administration. Since its inception, CAP has published analysis of the impact of government policy under Democratic and Republican administrations.
This threatened lawsuit’s attack on facts and evidence is baseless. A fundamental protection of the First Amendment is to allow for the publication of facts and analysis that are contrary to the arguments and claims of any administration. A lawsuit is a transparent attempt to silence us. We will neither cower nor bend in the face of it.
In America, profound disagreements over public policy are resolved through robust public debate, not through threats or intimidation. Independent data, evidence, and analysis are essential to that debate. Efforts to silence independent research because its findings are unwelcome by an administration or president should alarm every American.
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Mishka Espey at [email protected].