Apple CEO Clashes With GOP Senator Over Encryption At Secretive Retreat

Tech CEOs, the Republican establishment and the Dalai Lama walk into a golf resort.

It was supposed to be a chummy weekend with GOP lawmakers and billionaires. Instead, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) got into it with Apple CEO Tim Cook over his company's refusal to help the FBI hack into iPhones.

The exchange, which took place at the American Enterprise Institute's World Forum, left a number of attendees "a little uncomfortable about how hostile Cotton was," a source familiar with the back-and-forth told The Huffington Post on Monday.

Cook was one of a number of tech CEOs and billionaires who attended the conference at the luxury resort on Sea Island, Georgia. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was also in attendance, as was Google co-founder Larry Page and Facebook/Napster's Sean Parker.

According to the source, Cotton was "pretty harsh" on Cook, hitting him on Apple'sdispute with the Department of Justice and the FBI. The tech giant has refused to help authorities unlock one of the iPhones of the San Bernardino shooters, prompting administration officials to seek a judge to order Apple to bypass security measures.

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