President Trump has demanded a liberal think tank retract a critical report on his National Guard deployments by Friday evening, threatening to file a $5 billion defamation suit if it doesn't.

In a nine-page letter sent Monday by Trump's personal attorney, which was reviewed by The Hill, he claimed the Center for American Progress (CAP) "manufactured" that the deployments weren't improving violent crime.

"Defendants did not merely draw a different academic conclusion; they defamed President Trump by distorting a contested empirical question into a sensational, false, malicious and defamatory accusation that President Trump knowingly lied to the American people," attorney Alejandro Brito wrote.

In a statement, CAP President and CEO Neera Tanden, a senior adviser to former President Biden, called the threat "baseless" and defended the report as "rigorous, evidence-based research and analysis."

"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," she said.

"In America, profound disagreements over public policy are resolved through robust public debate, not through threats or intimidation," the statement continued. "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."

During his presidency, Trump's personal lawyers have advanced a handful of defamation suits against those he perceives as foes. Often brought against media organizations with demands for 10-figure sums, Trump's lawsuits have at times prompted significant settlements.

His latest threat targets Tanden's think tank and other senior officials in past Democratic administrations on the board. 

CAP drew Trump's ire for publishing a report last month saying there was "no evidence" the president's National Guard deployments reduced violent crime. The group accused the administration of trying to take credit for a trend that was already underway to justify expanding policing.

"How crazy is that," Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month, threatening legal action as he called the report "another Radical Left SCAM." 

The letter, which was first reported by The New York Times, escalates the president's public threat, with a timeline. Brito set a 5 p.m. EDT Friday deadline for CAP to retract the report, apologize and compensate Trump or risk facing an at least $5 billion suit.

"Failure to comply will leave President Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to recover damages for the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that Defendants have caused him to suffer," the letter states. 

Kevin H. Metz, CAP's general counsel, sent a written response Friday to Trump's lawyer calling any suit "absurd." He warned that if Trump follows through, the group would welcome full discovery detailing the costs of the National Guard deployments and the "full picture" of White House involvement.

Metz also warned that threatening the group could ultimately hurt conservative groups, too.

"Such a precedent would not stay confined to CAP, and the next administration could just as easily target the Heritage Foundation or America First Policy Institute for facts they report that the president finds inconvenient," Metz wrote. "That would be wrong and indeed unAmerican, just as this threat of litigation is."

Updated at 1:54 p.m. EDT.

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