Gov. Gavin Newsom has a long relationship with Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce, that dates back to a different era in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO — Marc Benioff apologized Friday for saying the National Guard should be deployed to San Francisco, backtracking from his remarks that ignited a week of intense controversy on the left.

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.

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.

After strong backlash to his embrace of President Donald Trump and a week of blistering criticism, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has changed course.

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.

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.

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

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