Leader Jeffries Statement on Trump Administration’s Attack on Civil Liberties and American AI Leadership

Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries released the following statement: Donald Trump and the Department of Defense want to use powerful artificial intelligence technology to spy on American citizens through mass surveillance. Anthropic, a leading American company, has courageously pushed back against this shocking invasion of privacy scheme. In response, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, the least qualified Secretary of Defense in our nation’s history, are trying to punish Anthropic. The anti-free enterprise behavior of the Trump administration should not surprise anyone since they have been bullying corporate America and forcing companies to bend the knee to far-right policies from day one of his presidency. It’s time for the business community to speak up, particularly those corporate leaders whose money put this extreme administration in power, hurting our country. Mass surveillance of American citizens is unacceptable. House Democrats are committed to protecting the privacy of the American people. We will push back against those whose overt actions or calculated silence seek to undermine it. ###