President Donald Trump said he no longer plans to send federal forces to San Francisco over the weekend — and he says that’s in part because some tech CEOs encouraged him to hold off.
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said that he was preparing to “surge” federal forces into the city on Saturday, but decided to hold off after “friends of mine who live in the area” called him on Wednesday night.
He specifically named Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff as among the “great people” who called him and urged him to call off the deployment.
Trump said that he was giving San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie a “chance to turn it around.”
“They want to give it a ‘shot,'” Trump said of the two CEOs. “Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday.”
Lurie said in a statement on Thursday that while he would welcome partnerships with the federal agencies to address drug issues, “having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery.”
“We appreciate that the president understands that we are the global hub for technology, and when San Francisco is strong, our country is strong,” Lurie said.
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Trump left the door open to a future federal deployment, saying: “Stay tuned!”
Spokespeople from Nvidia and Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Benioff previously said that he supported Trump sending the National Guard to the city, though he later apologized after his comments drew criticism, as well as the resignation of prominent VC Ron Conway from the Salesforce Foundation’s board.
“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 last week. “My earlier comment came from an abundance of caution around the event, and I sincerely apologize for the concern it caused.”
Huang has worked to build a relationship with Trump since he took office, including accompanying the president on a trip to Saudi Arabia in May.
