In a sharp departure from his past liberal stances, Benioff told the outlet he “fully” supports the president and thinks the National Guard should be deployed to San Francisco. “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he said.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff now fully supports President Donald Trump and urged him to deploy National Guard troops to San Francisco due to crime concerns.

Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff on Friday apologized for comments he made last week urging President Trump to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to address public safety.

After a week of controversy, that has at times threatened to overshadow his company’s trademark Dreamforce conference, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has apologized for his comments about deploying the National Guard to San Francisco.

Mr. Benioff, the Salesforce C.E.O. and owner of Time magazine, once supported Hillary Clinton and a business tax for homeless services. Now he’s fully behind Donald Trump.

Benioff’s comments about the National Guard — which were echoed over the weekend by Tesla CEO and major Trump donor Elon Musk — came in the wake of Trump deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Memphis and Washington, D.C. Trump has also threatened to do so in Portland and Chicago, but has so far been blocked by federal courts.

Benioff’s comments sparked a swift backlash, including within his circle. Bloomberg reported that prominent venture capitalist Ron Conway quit the Salesforce Foundation board over Benioff’s Trump comments. CNN has reached out to Salesforce to confirm the departure.

The Salesforce CEO had called for President Trump to send the National Guard to San Francisco.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that President Trump should deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to combat crime: "We don't have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I'm all for it."

Salesforce CEO backtracks on troops for SF streets after losing longtime ally Ron Conway, but new revelations about ICE proposals raise more questions.