Democratic ranking members Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) have requested that President Donald Trump preserve all records of his interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots. The lawmakers sent a letter seeking the preservation of "any prompts" and subsequent responses from platforms including Elon Musk’s Grok, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude used during the performance of official, statutory, constitutional, or ceremonial duties.
The request follows reports that the president used the Grok AI assistant to seek advice on carrying out presidential duties. According to the lawmakers, reporting indicated that Trump asked the chatbot to opine on how the Venezuelan public would respond to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. The letter noted that weeks after this consultation, the president ordered the U.S. military to capture Maduro without seeking authorization from Congress.
In their communication, Raskin and Garcia described the use of AI in this context as "deeply troubling," stating that the technology is "highly manipulable and demonstrably error-prone." They argued that consulting an AI chatbot rather than Congress on military deployments bypasses constitutional war-making authority and introduces national security risks. The lawmakers also expressed concern that such tools could expose the U.S. government to "malign influence" from unaccountable third parties.
A White House official responded to the inquiry by stating that the administration "preserves all required records in accordance with the law." Elon Musk did not provide an immediate response to requests for comment. The lawmakers have requested a formal briefing from the White House on the matter by 5:00 p.m. on November 11.
The scale of this issue involves the potential transition of foreign policy decision-making from traditional diplomatic and legislative channels to proprietary algorithms. While the specific number of AI prompts is not reported, the action involves the deployment of the U.S. military to Venezuela, an operation conducted without congressional authorization. For the average citizen, this development signals a change in how military and diplomatic actions may be formulated, potentially shifting the basis of such decisions from human intelligence and legislative debate to automated software outputs.
The knock-on effects could influence future regulations regarding the use of AI within federal agencies. If Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming elections, Raskin and Garcia—who would likely chair the Judiciary and Oversight committees—could use these preserved records to launch formal investigations into executive decision-making. The next step in this process is the November 11 deadline for the White House briefing requested by the lawmakers.