Tim Cook called out the White House's 'lack of leadership' on encryption during a closed-door meeting last month
"With all due respect, I think there's been a lack of leadership in the White House on this," Cook reportedly told government officials at the meeting, which included NSA director Michael Rogers and Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security.
The two-hour meeting reportedly ended on a sour note, with Cook and Denis McDonough, President Barack Obama's chief of staff, "agreeing to disagree." The skirmish is important, as Apple's fight with the FBI moves from courthouses in California to Washington, D.C., and the halls of Capitol Hill.
Unfortunately for Apple, it sounds as if it doesn't have Obama's full support. The Times reported that Cook had met with the president "at least a half-dozen times" during his tenure but that no future meetings were scheduled.
During a televised interview last week, Cook said he hadn't spoken with Obama about the San Bernardino case, but he vowed that he would.
The FBI is seeking to compel Apple to create software that disables certain iPhone security measures so that law enforcement can extract encrypted data from a cellphone used by one of the attackers in last year's San Bernardino mass shooting.
On Tuesday, Apple's top lawyer, Bruce Sewell, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee, and he is expected to encourage Congress to pass laws that would make the FBI's request moot.