Trump threatens defamation suit against left-leaning think tank
President Trump's legal team is threatening to sue left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress for defamation over a report it issued that found "no evidence that National Guard deployments have reduced violent crime."
August 21, 2026 / 9:10 PM EDT / CBS News
In an Aug. 17 letter, Mr. Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, claimed the report contains materially false statements intended to damage the president. He set a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for the organization to retract the report, apologize and compensate the president. Failure to comply, Brito wrote, could result in a lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages.
Kevin Metz, an attorney for the Center for American Progress, responded in a letter: "This is utterly absurd: truth is not and cannot be defamation. … The right to disagree with the government, debate policies, and express dissent over policy choices is central to a functioning American democracy."
Both letters were obtained by CBS News. CBS News has reached out to Brito for comment.
"This threatened lawsuit's attack on facts and evidence is baseless," CAP President and CEO Neera Tanden said in a statement. "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."