With help from Cheyenne Haslett, Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner
Happy Friday! This is Brendan Bordelon, POLITICO’s AI and tech influence reporter, wishing everyone a happy Juneteenth from the nation’s capital — and wondering whether I can convince my family that checking out the reflecting pool drama counts as a fun holiday weekend activity. Get in touch.
In today’s Playbook …
— The White House-Anthropic spat threatens bad blood between the industry and Washington.
— How Trump’s Iran deal highlights the biggest blind spot of his second term.
— The Boldfaces: Jason Kwon, Andy Jassy, JD Vance, Bill Pulte, Laura Swett, John Ratcliffe, Howard Lutnick, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jack Schlossberg and more.
WAITING FOR A PROMPT: Negotiations between the White House and Anthropic over the government blockade against the company’s new artificial intelligence models slide into their second week today. And the tech industry is quietly freaking out.
Last Friday’s last-minute restrictions against Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos AI models — supposedly over concerns that bad actors could overcome their cyber safeguards (security experts are skeptical) — forced the company to abruptly yank its new products from global markets.
The move came just months after a spat between Anthropic and the Pentagon prompted the government to label the company a supply chain risk. And while spring brought a thaw between the two sides (thanks in part to federal agencies skirting the restrictions anyway), this time feels different.
Industry advocates across Washington worry the White House seems intent on targeting Anthropic, which voices in and around the Trump administration paint as hopelessly left-leaning.
“You can’t tell everyone that your product might destroy the world and then not expect the government to be involved,” one administration official told POLITICO’s Cheyenne Haslett this week.
And as the dispute drags into week two, many fear the White House vendetta will harm the industry writ-large.
“I had assumed this episode would just blow over as cooler heads figured out a path forward, as they did in February,” Ryan Fedasiuk, a tech and national security researcher at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, posted on X Wednesday. But by “digging in their heels,” he said parts of the Trump administration have become “far more safety-obsessed and anti-innovation” than the Biden administration.
The broader tech lobby is largely frozen in a defensive crouch, hoping the issue will go away before it’s forced to stick its neck out. But in background conversations this week, officials at AI companies and trade groups fretted the sudden sledgehammering of a top firm’s product line could choke off new investments and chill US exports of the technology.
“There are countries and foreign governments and companies that want to be building on American tech,” said one top lobbyist, granted anonymity to discuss the situation without attracting the White House’s ire. “But they need reliability, and they need to trust that the software that they want to build on is going to be available and not be pulled out from under them.”
Tech lobbyists and company executives are particularly worried the White House’s newfound willingness to block foreigners from accessing cutting-edge AI will cause an industry-wide brain drain. That fear is palpable at OpenAI, Anthropic’s industry arch-rival and one of many firms where foreign nationals make up a massive chunk of the research team.
OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon told staff in a Slack message over the weekend that the company “strongly” informed the U.S. government that developing advanced AI “requires the best talent from around the world,” according to a report from The Information. A person familiar with internal communications at OpenAI, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the company raised concerns about attracting and retaining foreign talent with the Trump administration.
Asked about the broader economic impact of the restrictions this week, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told POLITICO the government is “collaborating with AI industry leaders to balance cutting-edge innovation with national security concerns.”
One of the most chilling aspects of the restrictions, at least from the industry’s perspective, was how arbitrarily the White House deployed them.
Despite an executive order less than three weeks old laying out a voluntary 30-day vetting process for new AI models, the White House decision to block Anthropic was sparked by still-nebulous concerns from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. And according to Anthropic, the company had 90 minutes to address them or face the government’s wrath.
“It is helpful to have predictability, and when you have rules and guidelines, to know what the parameters are,” the lobbyist told your author. “And this seems to be a case where that wasn’t what happened.”
In a Thursday letter, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers asked the administration for clarity on the Anthropic restrictions — and whether other AI companies could be next.
The ongoing chaos lit a fire under Congress to lay out clear guardrails on cutting-edge AI. But the only viable vehicle so far — a bipartisan House proposal that would place safety and transparency rules on top AI companies — lacks administration support, and generally landed like a lead balloon in Washington.
It’s not too late for the White House or Capitol Hill to impose order, the lobbyist said, but “the longer anything like this continues, the bigger of a potential impact it is.”
And on the energy side of the AI debate, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted unanimously yesterday to move toward cleaning up the giant mess keeping data centers off the power grid and frustrating American voters with rising utility bills. “This FERC is not the old sleepy agency that it has been in the past. We can’t afford to be, and our country cannot afford for us to be,” FERC Chair Laura Swett told POLITICO’s Kelsey Tamborrino and Joel Kirkland afterwards. “We are unified in protecting the American ratepayer.”
THE ART OF THE DEAL: The next phase of U.S.-Iran negotiations could begin as soon as today, though the timing remains unclear, especially after Israel’s military launched deadly strikes across Lebanon overnight, per the AP. VP JD Vance — whose high-profile role here amounts to a high-stakes political dice roll — said he may travel to Switzerland this weekend, but his departure was delayed as of last night. The road ahead looks dicey, as both sides navigate secret proposals, including unwritten “gentlemen’s agreements,” for implementation, CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis and colleagues report.
- The step back: Trump in his second term has suffered a significant blind spot in failing to see the strength of nationalism in other countries, from Iran to Canada, Alex Burns writes for the newly relaunched POLITICO Magazine today: “Perhaps most damaging to Trump, his expectation that he could decapitate Iran’s leadership, blast the country into submission and install a compliant proxy — all without using ground troops — led to a monthslong stalemate that spiked energy prices and sapped the global economy. It should not surprise any nationalist leader that Iran’s generals and clerics preferred months of American bombing over quick subjugation.”
- Sticks and stones: But Trump remains psychologically immune to the barrage of criticism he’s received for the provisional peace deal: On the contrary, the war showed that “there are no limits” to his power, he told Axios’ Marc Caputo.
SPY GAMES: Bill Pulte adds acting DNI to his resume today, taking the helm of the nation’s intelligence apparatus that critics fear he’ll weaponize. Trump maneuvered to ensure Pulte could take over so that he can execute mass firings, WSJ’s Brian Schwartz and colleagues report. So there’s no quick resolution in sight to Washington’s gridlock over the role and FISA’s Section 702. And POLITICO’s John Sakellariadis writes that it’s CIA Director John Ratcliffe who could emerge with more power as a result of Pulte’s ascension.
BOOK CLUB: Trump privately called Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick a “pussy” after Lutnick pushed back on Trump’s obsession with tariffs at the height of the “Liberation Day” chaos, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan write in their upcoming book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” obtained by POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman.
“‘I remember when you were thirty-five, you were a killer,” Trump said, according to the book. “And now, you’ve got your beautiful wife, and your big house, and you’re just soft. And you’re a pussy. You know what you are? You’re a pussy.’” But after billions of dollars of tariff revenue started getting paid to the government and fears of a financial crisis had gone away, Lutnick flipped Trump’s critique on him and would tell Trump he was “your twenty-five-billion-dollar-a-month pussy.”
Asked about the incident, the White House’s Desai said in a statement: “The President has always sought the best and brightest individuals for his Administration, and Secretary Lutnick and President Trump continue to work closely together to deliver trillions of dollars in investments for the American people.” A Commerce Department spokesperson declined to comment.
DISPATCH FROM CHICAGO: POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin was on hand to take in the official opening of Barack Obama’s Presidential Center yesterday, where Joe Biden jokingly stood behind the lectern after Obama spoke as if he too was going to make remarks — “an almost too-perfect metaphor for how Obama will be remembered, as much for what came after as his own presidency,” JMart writes. But Obama also nodded to the next generation, with a host of potential 2028ers in the crowd to honor the former president, including JB Pritzker, Rahm Emanuel, Pete Buttigieg, Mark Kelly, Josh Shapiro and Gavin Newsom. More from POLITICO’s Shia Kapos
WEAPONIZATION WATCH: Newsom’s orbit has been rattled by federal investigations, with staffers wondering about their legal exposure to the Trump administration, POLITICO’s Melanie Mason and Jeremy White report. Newsom world maintains the probes, whose nature remains unclear, are politicized dirt-digging. But they’re gearing up for a fight.
LISTEN TO THIS: For “The Conversation” this week, Dasha spoke with Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of JFK and Democratic candidate for New York’s 12th District, whose online presence has become a defining part of his campaign. Has he ever regretted anything he’s posted? “Not once,” he told Dasha. “Never. No regrets.” Listen and subscribe on Apple or Spotify
1. MAINE LINE: The Susan Collins-aligned Pine Tree Results PAC is launching the next phase of a seven-figure general election ad campaign targeting Democrat Graham Platner in Maine. The ad is set to air statewide during today’s U.S. Men’s National Team World Cup match against Australia, Playbook’s Adam Wren scoops, and accuses Platner of not respecting veterans and blaming “his Nazi tattoo on military culture.” Watch it here
2. IMMIGRATION FILES: Kristi Noem’s warehouse plan for immigration detention is being quickly unwound, as DHS looks to jettison seven of the facilities it bought for more than $700 million, NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz reports.
3. DOWN TO A SCIENCE: An HHS policy document provided scientific backup for expanded Medicaid work requirements. Just one problem, NOTUS’ Margaret Manto and Emily Kennard report: Some of the scientists whose research is cited say their work was spun, cherry-picked or misinterpreted, in “a stark departure from the usual quality of work” from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
4. ANTI-VAXX IN ACTION: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended mandatory flu shots for troops. Now a flu outbreak at an Air Force base in Texas has left almost 160 of them ill, NYT’s Greg Jaffe and Maggie Haberman scooped. One trainee died last week, though it’s not clear if that was from the flu. The Air Force has since reinstated the requirement at this base.
5. VALLEY TALK: Meta proposed language to Congress that would shield the company from a wave of lawsuits claiming children were harmed by platforms like Instagram, Reuters’ Jody Godoy scooped. The company wants to get their liability provision included in the Kids Online Safety Act, which it would stop opposing in return. But the office of sponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said they “would never consider it.”
THE WEEKEND AHEAD
FRIDAY PROGRAMS …
C-SPAN “Ceasefire”: Jamil Jaffer and Daniel Baer … Kevin Walling and Alex Stroman.
PBS “Washington Week”: Jonathan Karl, Karim Sadjadpour, David Sanger and Nancy Youssef.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
CNN “State of the Union,” with “A Look at Fatherhood”: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) … Mitt Romney … Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
MS NOW “PoliticsNation”: Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) … Evanston, Illinois, Mayor Daniel Biss … Valerie Jarrett.
FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) … Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Legal panel: Tom Dupree and Jonathan Turley. Panel: Richard Fowler, Mary Katharine Ham and Tiffany Smiley.
CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Kevin Book … Amos Hochstein.
NBC “Meet the Press”: Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Sara Fagen, Susan Glasser, Nia-Malika Henderson and Jeh Johnson.
NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.). Panel: Nicholas Wu, Kate Andrews and Julie Mason.
THE MYSTERIOUS MISSING CONGRESSMAN — Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) will be back in Congress on June 30 after disappearing for three months with an undisclosed health issue, the New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein scooped.
WHAT’S IN A NAME — NOTUS agreed to resolve The Washington Star’s trademark lawsuit, and the upshot is that Robert Allbritton’s growing publication won’t rebrand as The Star, per NYT’s Katie Robertson.
WE BOTH GET SO BLUE — It’s not just the green algae: Some of the new blue material in the repainted Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is already peeling off the bottom, CNN’s Abigail Roedersheimer and colleagues report. The cost of the pool’s contract rose again, to $14.7 million, The Hill’s Rachel Frazin scooped.
IT WAS ALL AN ACT — “A Wild Jaunt Across Europe With Trump’s Tourism Czar, the Aussie Expat Formerly Known as ‘Nick Adams, Alpha Male,’” by Vanity Fair’s Aidan McLaughlin: “He was a local politician in Australia, then a MAGA mover-and-shaker thanks to outrageous tweets that he now says were part of a WWE-style persona. But through it all, Nick Adams has been a loyal digital soldier for President Trump, who’s now rewarded him with perhaps the hardest job around: convincing tourists to visit Trump’s America.”
TRANSITIONS — Adeline DeYoung is now director of public policy at the National Ski Areas Association. She most recently worked at Treefera and is a Teresa Leger Fernandez alum. … Stephen Cha-Kim is now a principal at Free and Fair Litigation Group. He previously worked at Arnold & Porter.
WEDDING — Becca Arbacher, deputy director for Western Europe and the Balkans on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, and Marcus Thaw, senior associate for infrastructure and engineering at Alvarez and Marsal, got married May 30 at the Pennsylvanian in Pittsburgh. They met playing Ultimate Frisbee (in which both are competing internationally this summer). Pic, by Dawn Derbyshire … Another pic
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Meg McGaughey, senior director of federal affairs at FanDuel, and Tyler McGaughey, chief administrative officer and general counsel at Source Code and a SubCom board member, welcomed Abigail Grace on June 7. She joins big sisters Honora and Mary. Pic … Another pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) … Bloomberg’s Jeff Mason … Anne Gearan … Alex Kisling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies … Marcus Brauchli … Aimee Strudwick Gilroy … Axios’ Alex Isenstadt … POLITICO’s Laura Maggi … Michael Akin … Christina Ruffini … CyberScoop’s Tim Starks … David Di Martino … Patrick Rooney … Ben Castagnetti of Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America Inc. … Hodan Omaar … Mary Dalrymple of Eagle Hill Consulting … Mike Naple … former Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) … former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro … Michael Robbins … Zac Rutherford of Crossroads Treatment Centers … Michelle Ringuette … Actum’s Alexander Rauda … Julia Palomino-Causey and Daniel Causey … Mary Carpenter of the Nuclear Energy Institute … Treasury’s Rebecca Karabus … Tate Mitchell of Sen. Tim Sheehy’s (R-Mont.) office … Roberto Lugones of Rep. Carlos Gimenez’s (R-Fla.) office … Jennifer Hazelton
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