Trump order cutting ties with Anthropic likely coming later this week, sources say

Washington — President Trump will issue an executive order to remove Anthropic’s AI technology from agencies across the executive branch, sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News, saying the move could come as soon as this week.

Mr. Trump announced on Feb. 27 that he was ordering all federal agencies “to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology” after a dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic over guardrails on the military’s use of Claude, the company’s flagship AI model. 

The Pentagon has initiated a six-month phaseout of Claude. Other agencies, including the Treasury Department, have said they were discontinuing use of Anthropic’s products. 

Axios first reported that the White House was preparing an executive order to formalize the president’s directive.

The showdown between Anthropic and the Trump administration stems from restrictions the company sought on using Claude for mass surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons. The Pentagon rejected those guardrails, saying the military must be able to deploy the tech for “any lawful use.”

The two sides failed to reach an agreement late last month, prompting the president to announce that agencies should stop using the company’s products. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth soon issued an order deeming Anthropic a supply chain risk, a designation typically reserved for companies linked to foreign adversaries.

Anthropic filed suit on Monday seeking to block both the Pentagon’s supply chain risk determination and the president’s directive, saying the administration was illegally retaliating for speech protected by the First Amendment. 

“Anthropic’s contracts with the federal government are already being canceled. Current and future contracts with private parties are also in doubt, jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in the near-term,” said the lawsuit, filed in California. “On top of those immediate economic harms, Anthropic’s reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack. Absent judicial relief, those harms will only compound in the weeks and months ahead.”