The DoJ said Apple`s stance was "corrosive" of institutions trying to protect "liberty and rights".
It also claims Apple helped the Chinese government with iPhone security.
Apple`s general counsel Bruce Sewell told reporters on a conference call: "The tone of the brief reads like an indictment".
He said: "Everybody should beware because it seems like disagreeing with the Department of Justice means you must be evil and anti-American, nothing could be further from the truth."
Prosecutors claim Apple`s own data shows that China demanded information from Apple regarding more than 4,000 iPhones in the first half of 2015, and Apple produced data 74% of the time.
But Mr Sewell said the new filing relies on thinly sourced news reports to inaccurately suggest that Apple had colluded with the Chinese government to undermine [iPhone] buyers` security.
`Shoddy`
The US government has been fighting Apple over access to information on the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers, Rizwan Farook, in December. Apple says the demands violate the company`s rights.
The DoJ claimed in its court filing that Apple had attacked the FBI investigation as "shoddy", and tried to portray itself as a "guardian of Americans` privacy".
This "rhetoric is not only false, but also corrosive of the very institutions that are best able to safeguard our liberty and our rights: the courts, the Fourth Amendment, longstanding precedent and venerable laws, and the democratically elected branches of government," the DoJ said.
In February, the FBI obtained a court order to force Apple to write new software that would allow the government to break into the phone. The FBI wants the software to bypass auto-erase functions on the phone.
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