White House Shifts Anthropic Talks Away from CEO; Fences Lincoln Memorial Pool
The Trump administration has stopped dealing directly with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, replacing him with co-founder Tom Brown in discussions about the Claude Fable 5 model while export controls remain. Separately, the White House has begun fencing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and threatening arrest for touching the water after renovation issues.
Anthropic has changed its representation in talks with the White House over the re-release of its Claude Fable 5 AI model. According to sources, President Trump's team no longer engages directly with CEO Dario Amodei because he was considered too difficult to talk to and unwilling to listen to concerns. Instead, co-founder Tom Brown has taken the lead, with one source saying he is "not being a weirdo" and can actually engage. Brown, along with Anthropic's public policy chief Sarah Heck, has been handling recent outreach.
The export controls that took Anthropic's most powerful models offline on June 12 remain in place. They were imposed after the National Security Agency confirmed that there were ways to bypass guardrails and access the restricted Mythos model. Multiple calls have taken place at both high and working-group levels, including technical staff. Discussions have focused on what evidence from Anthropic might alleviate concerns about jailbreaking the Fable 5 model.
Independent cybersecurity experts have increasingly argued that guardrails on AI are only a temporary fix, as skilled users and future AI systems will find ways around them. A White House spokesperson declined to comment, and Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asking for specific criteria and a timeline for restoring public access to the model. The letter, signed by representatives Sam Liccardo, Jay Obernolte, C. Scott Franklin, and Ted Lieu, demanded a response by June 26. The Commerce Department declined to comment on whether it would meet the deadline.
In a separate development, President Trump has been posting on Truth Social about negative coverage of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool after his $16.4 million renovation. The pool has been plagued by algae blooms and detached flaps of blue sealant. Trump claimed several people were arrested for alleged vandalism, but an administration official did not clarify what activities would be considered a crime. The administration has started erecting fencing around the pool, and the National Guard has been instructed since last week to detain anyone touching the water for arrest on vandalism charges, citing specific federal regulations. It is unclear whether placing a hand in the water violates either of the cited statutes.
