Anthropic’s CEO and Investors Funneled $174 Million to Democrats. Biden Gave Them a $200 Million Pentagon Contract. Now They’re Heading for a $965 Billion IPO.
Trump Called Them “Leftwing Nut Jobs” and Threatened “Major Civil and Criminal Consequences.” A California Judge Blocked Him.
Anthropic — the AI safety company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI vice president of research Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei, with early backing from a who’s-who of Democratic donors — is preparing for an initial public offering that analysts project could value the company at $850 billion to $965 billion. A Washington Examiner investigation documented that the CEO, board members, and investors funneled more than $174 million to Democratic candidates and causes across recent election cycles.
During the Biden administration, Anthropic received a $200 million Pentagon contract — the only AI company cleared for use on classified DoD networks at the time. Biden’s AI Safety Institute was launched in 2023, and Anthropic participated in its evaluations and signed its pledges. When the Trump administration won in 2024, Anthropic quietly removed those Biden-era AI policy commitments from its website. The founding director of Biden’s AI Safety Institute — Elizabeth Kelly — joined Anthropic as Head of Beneficial Deployments in early 2025.
Then Trump moved against them. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a “supply-chain risk to national security.” Trump posted on Truth Social calling them “Leftwing nut jobs” and threatening “major civil and criminal consequences.” Agencies began canceling their Anthropic contracts. A federal judge in California blocked the national-security designation and the contract termination. Anthropic is now simultaneously in a federal court fight with the Trump administration, preparing a potential IPO, and generating an estimated $47 billion annualized revenue run rate.
- $174M+From Anthropic's orbit to Democrats — documentedWashington Examiner investigation: CEO Dario Amodei donated $214,000+ to Biden, Clinton, DNC. Board member Reed Hastings (Netflix): $20M+ to Democrats, $7M to Harris super PAC. Early investor Dustin Moskovitz: $38M to Harris-aligned super PAC 2024. Former investor Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX): $5.6M to Biden 2020. Total documented: $174M+ from Anthropic's CEO, board, and investors.
- $200MBiden-era Pentagon contract — cleared for classified DoD networksAnthropic signed a $200 million Pentagon contract in July 2025 — the only AI company cleared for use on DoD classified networks at the time. State Department added an $18,960 purchase order in February 2026. Agencies began shedding contracts in March 2026 following Trump's supply-chain-risk designation, which a California federal judge subsequently blocked.
- $47BAnnualized revenue run rate — May 2026Dario Amodei publicly stated Anthropic hit a $47 billion annualized revenue run rate in May 2026. Growth trajectory: $87M (Jan 2024) → $1B (Dec 2024) → $9B (end 2025) → $14B (Feb 2026) → $30B (April 2026) → $47B (May 2026). Amodei said this 'outstripped the company's own forecasts by a factor of eight.' Q2 2026 projected operating profit: $559 million — Anthropic's first-ever.
- $380BLast confirmed valuation — Series G, February 12, 2026Anthropic's Series G raised $30 billion at $380 billion post-money valuation (confirmed by Anthropic press release). Later reports from TradingKey and TechTimes cite a subsequent fundraise at $965 billion — not confirmed by Anthropic directly. No S-1 filed. No ticker set. Wilson Sonsini (top Silicon Valley IPO law firm) hired in December 2025. Q4 2026 IPO discussed internally per The Information.
- $2.5BClaude Code annualized revenue run rate — February 2026Anthropic's Claude Code — an autonomous terminal-based AI coding agent launched May 2025 — hit $1B ARR by November 2025 and $2.5B ARR by February 2026. Enterprise customers include Netflix, Spotify, KPMG, L'Oréal, Salesforce. Claude Code scored 72% on multi-file software engineering tasks vs. GitHub Copilot's 48%. 'Most loved' AI coding tool by 46% of developers.
Dario Amodei (CEO): $214,000+ to Democratic candidates and committees — Biden, Hillary Clinton, DNC. Called Trump “a serious and legitimate threat to the rule of law” and a “feudal warlord” in a pre-election Facebook post (since deleted).
Reed Hastings (board member, Netflix co-founder): Over $20 million to Democrats, including $7 million to a Harris-aligned super PAC in 2024.
Dustin Moskovitz (early investor, Facebook co-founder): $38 million to a Harris-aligned super PAC in 2024.
Eric Schmidt (former Google CEO, early investor): “Longtime Democratic donor and policy adviser,” per multiple profiles.
Sam Bankman-Fried (former $500M investor in 2021 round): $5.6 million to Biden’s 2020 campaign. Currently serving prison time for fraud. Anthropic’s early funding is partly traceable to FTX-origin money.
Total documented: $174 million+ from Anthropic CEO, board members, and investors — per Washington Examiner investigation.
Elizabeth Kellywas the founding director of the U.S. AI Safety Institute — the Biden administration’s primary AI governance body — launched under a Biden October 2023 executive order at NIST. She left the institute in early 2025, after the Trump administration took office, and joined Anthropic as Head of Beneficial Deployments. Trump officials cited the hire as evidence of Anthropic’s partisan entanglement. Three months after Kelly left NIST, Anthropic quietly removed its Biden-era AI safety policy commitments from its website — the same commitments the Biden AI Safety Institute had been organized around.
“Anthropic quietly removes Biden-era AI policy commitments from its website.”
TechCrunch · March 5, 2025 — headline
The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution.
Confirmed Trump Truth Social post — February 27, 2026. Sourced via Newsweek coverage of the Trump-Anthropic-Pentagon clash.
Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow.
Confirmed Trump Truth Social post — February 27, 2026. Same Newsweek source.
The conflict centered on Anthropic’s two stated “red lines”: it refused to allow Claude for mass domestic surveillance of Americans or for autonomous weapons systems without human oversight. Pentagon Under Secretary Emil Michael accused Anthropic of lying. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a “supply-chain risk to national security.” A six-month phase-out timeline was imposed on federal agencies. A California federal judge blocked both the designation and the contract termination order. Anthropic remains in active litigation with the Trump administration while simultaneously reporting $47 billion in annualized revenue.
Anthropic's mission has always been AI safety. Claude Code hit $2.5B annualized revenue in February 2026 — the fastest growth of any AI coding tool in history. We will pursue every legal avenue to continue serving our customers.
The US government is our customer and we want to serve them well. Anthropic's AI models help government agencies do their work better. The national security designation is simply incorrect and we will fight it in court.