Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff apologizes for saying National Guard troops are needed in San Francisco

Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff appears to be walking back comments calling for the National Guard to patrol San Francisco.

“After listening 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 necessary to address safety in San Francisco,” Benioff said in a post on X. “My previous comment was made out of an abundance of caution around the event, and I sincerely apologize for the anxiety it caused.”

Benioff sparked controversy last week after giving an interview to the New York Times in which he declared his support for President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy National Guard forces in San Francisco and other cities led by Democratic politicians.

While Benioff’s comments were apparently prompted by his concerns about public safety costs at the company’s massive Dreamforce conference in San Francisco last week, the formerly liberal-leaning billionaire also used the interview to embrace Trump, at one point saying: “I fully support the president,” adding that Trump is “doing a great job.” (At the end of the interview, he reportedly asked the shocked PR person: “So hot?”)

Although Benioff’s pro-Trump stance appears to be in line with a larger rightward shift among tech executives, his call for the National Guard to come to San Francisco quickly led to opposition from longtime allies and Democratic politicians. Famed venture capitalist Ron Conway resigned from the Salesforce Foundation’s board of directors, with Conway reportedly telling Benioff in an email, “I now barely recognize the person I’ve admired for so long.”

An event in which Benioff and San Francisco Mayor Dan Lury were scheduled to participate was also canceled due to rain.

State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, told Politico: “I’m grateful that Mark has backed away from his call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco. Mark has done a lot of good things for our city — and supported a lot of civic needs — and I’m glad to see that turnaround.”

Trump has already deployed the National Guard to other cities including Washington, D.C., and Chicago, while a judge has so far blocked his attempts to do the same in Portland. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has repeatedly called this an “invasion” of his state.