Key Takeaways
- The Event: In October 2025, President Trump threatened to send National Guard troops to San Francisco but reversed the decision after a phone call with Mayor Daniel Lurie.
- The Twist: Lurie describes the conversation as surreal, punctuated by an “odd party question” from the President before he agreed to stand down.
- The Influence: The reversal was heavily influenced by appeals from tech billionaires Marc Benioff and Jensen Huang, who vouched for the mayor’s progress.
- The Outcome: The federal surge was called off, and San Francisco has since continued its local efforts to reduce crime and revitalize the downtown area.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has shared new details about the high-stakes phone call with President Donald Trump that averted a federal military deployment to the city last year. In a retrospective interview marking his first year in office, Lurie recounted the surreal moment the President pivoted from threatening a military surge to asking an “odd party question.”
The Call That Saved the City
The interaction dates back to October 2025, during a tense standoff between the White House and San Francisco city officials. President Trump had publicly threatened to deploy the National Guard and federal agents to the city to combat crime and immigration issues, a move city leaders vehemently opposed.
According to Lurie, he received a late-night phone call from the President on October 22, 2025. While the conversation began with the threat of federal intervention, the tone shifted abruptly. Lurie described the President asking an “odd party question”—a query that seemed incongruous with the gravity of a potential military operation. The mayor did not elaborate on the specific wording of the question in the interview, but characterized it as a bizarre moment of levity or confusion that preceded the President’s sudden decision to back down.
Billionaire Intermediaries
The “odd” nature of the call highlights the unconventional channels that influenced the decision. It was later revealed that the President had spoken with “friends” in the Bay Area prior to calling the mayor. Tech titans Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, reportedly lobbied Trump to cancel the deployment.
“Friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge,” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time. He noted that Lurie “asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around.”
A Year of Progress
Reflecting on the incident a year later, Mayor Lurie points to the city’s recovery as vindication of his plea to the President. Since taking office in January 2025, the administration reports significant drops in property crime and open-air drug markets, metrics Lurie used to argue against the need for federal troops.
“I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise,” Lurie said of the call. “Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased, and workers are returning.”
Sources
- San Francisco Chronicle: Donald Trump & Daniel Lurie
- ABC News: Mayor Lurie Reflects on City’s Progress
- Politico: Trump Calls Off Surge in San Francisco
- ABC News: Trump Reverses Decision to Send Troops
- SF Public Press: Mayor’s Office Shields Call Details
- WTTW News: Federal Agents Sent to San Francisco Area
