Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff apologizes for saying Trump should send National Guard to San Francisco
Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff publicly apologized Friday for suggesting President Trump should send National Guard troops to San Francisco, saying his earlier remarks “came from an abundance of caution” and that he no longer believes federal intervention is needed to ensure public safety.“Having listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials, and after the largest and safest Dreamforce in our history, I do not believe the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco,” Benioff wrote on X.“My earlier comment came from an abundance of caution around the event, and I sincerely apologize for the concern it caused.”The billionaire philanthropist and longtime Democratic mega-donor, 61, added that San Francisco “makes the most progress when we all work together in a spirit of partnership.”Benioff thanked Mayor Daniel Lurie, the San Francisco Police Department and city officials for helping ensure the success of Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual technology conference that drew roughly 50,000 visitors this week.Benioff’s remarks mark an effort to calm tensions that have mounted since his interview with the New York Times last week, in which he said he supported Trump’s idea of deploying the National Guard to San Francisco to help fight crime.“We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he told the paper.The comments were met with strong criticism from city leaders and longtime allies in the tech and philanthropic communities.Lurie and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins rejected the idea, noting that crime in San Francisco has fallen to a 70-year low.“To see tear gas and all the things that are happening — we don’t want that chaos here,” Jenkins said earlier in the week.The fallout continued through the Dreamforce conference.
Prominent venture capitalist Ron Conway, a major Democratic donor and early backer of companies including Google and Airbnb, resigned from the board...