Hey Apple, we can either turn up the anti-trust heat by a lot, or we can turn it down, which is it going to be? Except it would be couched in intellectually dishonest language meant to preserve a veneer that the US Government isn't a violent, quasi-psychotic bully ready to bash your face in if you don't do what they're asking.
The interactions with intelligence about the new program would begin after they acquiesce to going along.
It's too easy. There's an extraordinary amount of wilful naivety in the US about the nature of the government and its frequent power abuses (what it's willing to do), despite the rather comically massive demonstration of said abuses spanning the entire post WW2 era. Every time it happens the wilfully naive crowd feigns surprise.
Or maybe China already said "put in this CSAM check or you can't make or sell phones in China".
Since Apple's position is contrary to their previous privacy policy and doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, it's quite possible extortion already happened (and not necessarily by China).