AWS has accused President Donald Trump of influencing the selection process.
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
Amazon Web Services, the cloud-computing arm of the online retail giant, has asked a federal court for permission to question President Donald Trump about a multibillion dollar Pentagon contract that was awarded to Microsoft. In court documents unsealed Monday, AWS said it wanted to collect depositions from seven people related to its allegations of “bias and bad faith” in how the contract was awarded.
AWS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but said in a statement to CNBC that Trump has “repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to use his position as president and commander in chief to interfere with government functions — including federal procurements — to advance his personal agenda.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, while the Department of Defense didn’t immediately have a comment.
Microsoft was awarded the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract in October 2019. The cloud computing deal could be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years. Amazon filed a suit in the US Court of Federal Claims against the Defense Department, and last month asked the court to halt Microsoft’s work on the contract.
Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
AWS said in the court documents that it wants to question Trump about his communications and interactions with decision makers and other companies bidding for the JEDI contract. The president’s “interference in the JEDI procurement, and how President Trump’s actions, comments, and directives were communicated to, understood by, and ultimately affected DoD decision makers, raise grave concerns,” AWS said in the court documents.
In addition to Trump, AWS is seeking depositions from Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy and other individuals who’s names were redacted.
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