On October 10, 2025, Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff said he supported President Donald Trump and thought National Guard troops should patrol San Francisco. He later reversed course: on October 18, he said he did not believe the Guard was needed to address the city’s safety and apologized for the concern his earlier remarks caused.
What Benioff said
Benioff made the comments in an interview with The New York Times, according to reporting published by TechCrunch and the San Francisco Chronicle on October 10, 2025. The remarks included support for President Trump and for deploying National Guard troops to patrol San Francisco.
TechCrunch also reported that the interview ended with Benioff asking his public-relations executive, “What about the political questions?” and “Too spicy?” The “stunning his own PR team” characterization stems from TechCrunch’s account of that exchange; the reporting does not independently establish the executive’s reaction.
Why he said San Francisco needed more patrols
The Chronicle reported that Benioff tied his comments to police staffing and security around Salesforce events. He said he paid hundreds of off-duty police officers to patrol the convention area during those events, and argued that the city needed to “refund” the police. The staffing figure is Benioff’s reported description, not an independently verified count.
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As quoted by the Chronicle, Benioff said: “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it.” His remarks framed the Guard proposal as a response to a perceived shortage of officers and a concern about event-area safety.
What local officials and reporting said about the proposal
Mayor Daniel Lurie objected to the idea. The Associated Press quoted him as saying: “The National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers—and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer.”
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The Chronicle’s October 10 legal reporting said that federalized National Guard troops acting as law-enforcement officers on city streets would be illegal in most circumstances under the Posse Comitatus Act. It also described a federal judge’s ruling concerning a Guard deployment in Los Angeles. That is a summary of the legal context in the Chronicle’s report, not legal advice or a complete account of the law.
In October 2025 coverage, the AP reported that San Francisco Police Department figures showed crime down more than 26% year to date compared with the same period in the prior year. The AP also reported Lurie’s statement that vehicle break-ins were at a 22-year low. Those figures and claims reflect the period and sources cited in that coverage; they are not current 2026 statistics.
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Benioff later reversed his position and apologized
On October 18, 2025, TechCrunch reported Benioff’s public reversal. He said: “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.”
He added: “My earlier comment came from an abundance of caution around the event, and I sincerely apologize for the concern it caused.” His later statement made clear that his October 10 remarks were not his position after the event and response.
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What the public response does—and does not—show
A letter dated October 11, 2025, by Paul A. Allen and hosted on a San Francisco government document site objected to Benioff’s proposal and was addressed to the Police Commission. It is an individual’s correspondence, not an adopted position of the commission.
The reporting establishes a short sequence: Benioff proposed Guard patrols while discussing staffing and event security, local officials criticized the idea, and Benioff later said the Guard was not needed and apologized. The cited October coverage does not establish a complete legal or political chronology after those events.
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