The Trump administration is close to allowing Anthropic to restore access to its powerful Fable 5 model, which has been offline for 15 days because of security fears by the government.

• Insiders expect the administration's limits on Fable 5 could be lifted as soon as this coming week, a source familiar with the situation tells me.
• A second source tells Axios' Sam Sabin that conversations are expected to continue over the weekend, and Anthropic expects to restore Fable access soon.

🦾 Why it matters: For developers and even non-technical early adopters, Fable 5's blackout was unprecedented and deeply jarring — a top-tier model, already in users' hands, pulled offline due to government intervention, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

🏛️ The big picture: The progress toward liberating Fable 5 marks a thaw in a bitter four-month, bicoastal standoff between the administration and Anthropic, based in San Francisco.

• In another sign of de-escalation, the Commerce Department yesterday allowed Anthropic to restore access to Mythos 5, the company's strongest cybersecurity model, for a limited number of trusted users. Mythos 5 has guardrails to deter its use in cyberattacks or biological terror, and has never been freely available.

💻 Fable 5's return is eagerly awaited by users, who quickly fell in love with the model's deep thinking and quick, sophisticated coding. Developers were wowed by the leap in capability. Every new model, especially open-source ones, is being measured against Fable 5.

• The Pentagon and National Security Agency still have to give Fable 5 the green light, so the outcome remains unpredictable. But other government agencies have determined Fable 5 can safely return to the wild.

🔎 Behind the scenes: I'm told that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have helped defuse the fight between the administration and Anthropic.

• Anthropic "has worked positively with the government," one administration source told Axios. That's quite a change from the furious statement by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designating Anthropic a "Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," after he and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei couldn't agree on how the Pentagon can use Claude.

🔭 Zoom in: Anthropic had billed it as the most capable model ever released to the public. The "Vibe Check" newsletter from Every, a media and software company, called it "the best coding model in the world" before it was pulled, just three days after launch.

• In early testing highlighted by Anthropic, the payments company Stripe used Fable 5 to overhaul a 50-million-line codebase in a single day — a job that would have taken engineers more than two months by hand.

When access vanished June 12, developers found automated work frozen mid-task. Companies raced to swap in rivals, including cheaper Chinese models.

• Share this story ... Go deeper: Commerce Department greenlights limited return of Anthropic's Mythos.

The Trump administration's intervention this week in the release of OpenAI's next model is the latest example of its retreat from its hands-off approach to AI — a change that's creating major uncertainty for the industry, Axios' Ashley Gold and Mackenzie Weinger report.

• Why it matters: The Trump administration entered office promising to get government out of the AI industry's way. It hasn't worked out that way.

The administration has what amounts to a shadow AI policy that shapes AI deployment without spelling out rules. Industry watchers argue two factors are kneecapping the U.S. government's desire to export American AI:

1. An erratic export controls strategy, with decisions about access to advanced models made on the fly.
2. Not paying sufficient attention to China's efforts to spread its open-source AI models abroad.

Go deeper.

President Trump needs a potent message to reverse his party's bleak midterm outlook — and he's found it in the rise of democratic socialists in New York and beyond, Axios' Mike Zapler writes.

Why it matters: In a blistering speech to religious conservatives yesterday, Trump warned that "communists" are taking over the Democratic Party and "they want to completely destroy the traditional American way of life."

• Afterward, Faith & Freedom Coalition chairman Ralph Reed, a close ally of the president, told reporters that Trump's words were intentional and had the makings of a Republican message for the midterms.

🛰️ The big picture: Trump spent much of his speech to the coalition's annual "Road to Majority" conference railing against the far-left victories.

• He joked that he'd be the "greatest communist in history" — by giving everyone free rent, free food, free everything. "The problem is, after two or three years, the country is a disaster area," Trump said.
• "The Democrat Party is in big trouble, because this isn't stopping with New York," he went on. "This is the most serious threat to our country in its existence, in my opinion."

🥊 Reality check: Reed, a seasoned political operator going back to the 1990s, was blunt about the GOP's prospects in the election even as he praised Trump's performance.

• The enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, Reed said, is 11 to 14 points. "Anything above 10 points is a three-alarm fire," he said. But "if [voters] understand there's a contrast between common sense and crazy, it will definitely change these numbers."

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Even with the makings of a deal to end the Iran war, gas and airfare will take longer to return to pre-war levels — if they ever do, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Davis report.

• Why it matters: Oil prices can rise quickly and dramatically when headline-grabbing events like war or hurricanes threaten global supplies. It usually takes longer for them to settle back down.

📉 Reality check: U.S. gas prices have been dropping, but they're still way above prewar levels.

• This morning's nationwide average price per gallon of regular is $3.88. It was $3.22 a year ago.

⚖️ On Truth Social this week, President Trump ordered the Justice Department to look into customers being "gouged."

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Ukraine's sustained and sophisticated drone warfare has knocked out refineries, tilted the battlefield balance and brought the war home to some Russians for the first time in four years of fighting.

• Why it matters: Ukrainian confidence is running high, and Russia is struggling to provide fuel to its cities and supplies to its troops, Axios' Dave Lawler reports.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says he's launching a "40-day influence operation" to force Moscow to sign a peace deal.

• Hours after Zelensky's announcement on Thursday came one of the largest drone attacks of the war, targeting 12 regions of Russia as well as occupied Crimea.

💡 Reality check: The U.S.-led diplomacy on Ukraine is largely on hold due to a combination of the war in Iran and frustrations after the failure of several previous rounds.

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After UFC restoration is complete, construction is expected to begin on a White House helipad to accommodate a new Marine One, which scorches the grass at the traditional landing zone.

• Lockheed Martin, which makes the presidential chopper, funded the landing spot with a $5 million donation to the Trust for the National Mall.

Go deeper on White House construction (gift link to The Atlantic).

Cape Verde, a tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa, last night became the smallest country (by population) in World Cup history to make the knockout round.

• "We are small," said Vozinha, the 40-year-old, single-named goalkeeper, who embodies his nation's grit. "But we have big hearts and we are fighters."

With 530,000 inhabitants, Cape Verde is smaller than the smallest U.S. state, Wyoming, with 591,000.

• Keep reading.

Scroll through TikTok and you'll see couples doing pregnancy reveals during their nuptials, brides posing with their bellies, and dress shops showcasing maternity wedding gowns, Axios' Mimi Montgomery reports.

• Two milestones that have traditionally been viewed as distinct steps — marriage and then the baby carriage — are increasingly overlapping.
• Americans are waiting longer to get married and have kids, as they spend more time building careers and a financial cushion.

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