Two people claim Sources told Wired that newly appointed Trump administration officials tried to enter the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. on Monday but left before visiting the building. Their appearance comes days after the White House fired Shira Perlmutter, director of the copyright office, and has been in the job since 2020. Perlmutter removed from her post Saturday, and one day later, the agency released a report that raised concerns about the legitimacy of certain use of copyrighted materials to train AI.

A source familiar with the matter told Wired that two people trying to enter the copyrighted office showed a document on the building stating that they were appointed by the White House to take on a new role inside the office. Sources identified the men as Brian Nieves, who claimed to be the new deputy librarian, said Paul Perkins, the new acting director and acting clerk of the copyright. It is not clear whether men identify themselves accurately.

According to its LinkedIn Profiles, there is an official named Brian Nieves who is currently employed as deputy chief of staff of the Deputy Attorney General's Office, and Paul Perkins is currently employed as deputy attorney general of the Justice Department, according to its LinkedIn Profiles. The Justice Department and the White House did not immediately answer questions about whether the Connect had appointed two officials to work in the copyright office.

Sources told Wired that Congressional police blocked the people from entering the copyrighted office, but a spokesperson for law enforcement agencies denied that police escorted anyone out or denied that they entered.

The U.S. Copyright Office is the government agency that manages the country's copyright laws within the Library of Congress. It processes the application as copyrighted creative works and maintains an existing registered searchable database. Last week, the Trump administration also fired Library of Congress director Carla Hayden, the first woman to hold the position and the first black man to hold the position.

The documents cited by the two men also pointed out that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump's personal defense attorney, is now acting director of the Congressional library. The Justice Department announced Monday that Blanche will replace Haydn, who has been working for nearly a decade. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Haydn's shooting originated from "what she did in the Library of Congress to pursue DEI was very involved in what she did."

So far, the Trump administration has not commented on why Perlmutter is fired. Some lawmakers speculated that her expulsion was related to copyright and AI reports released by her office. “Donald Trump terminated the copyright register and Shira Perlmutter is a rough, unprecedented power with no legal basis,” Joe Morelle, a representative of the committee that oversees the Library of Congress, said in a statement Saturday. “It is certainly not accidental after her efforts to denie Rubber-Stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine copyrighted works that train AI models.”