Amazon wants to question Trump over loss of ‘war cloud’ contract

Amazon is suing over the loss of a Pentagon war cloud computing contract, and it wants to question President Donald Trump.

Lawyers for Amazon say the reason Amazon lost the $10 billion dollar deal to Microsoft is that the President doesn’t like Jeff Bezos.

The contract involved a 10-year project to build a so-called “war cloud” for the military, labeled “JEDI.” According to Geekwire, JEDI will migrate the Defense Department’s entire IT infrastructure to the cloud, while investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning within the military. The DoD ultimately awarded the contract to Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service.

Amazon claims bias from Trump after losing ‘war cloud’ contract to Microsoft

Trump has been openly critical of Bezos, especially over his ownership of The Washington Post.

“He using the Washington Post for power, so that the politicians in Washington don’t tax Amazon the way they should be taxed,” Trump has said previously.

Seattle City Council has ‘deep concerns’ with possible ban on big business taxes

It’s that criticism that Amazon claims fueled the decision to award JEDI to Microsoft.

“I think when you have a sitting president who’s willing to publicly show his disdain for a company and the leader of a company, it’s very difficult for government agencies, including the DoD, to make an objective decision without fear of reprisal,” Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy said at an employee meeting in late 2019.

Additionally, a book from former Secretary of Defense James Mattis also alleges that Mattis was instructed by President Trump to “screw Amazon” out of winning the JEDI contract.

In papers filed in U.S. Federal Court in Washington D.C., attorneys argue they must get a deposition from Trump, because he’s the only one who can talk about his conversations and dealings on the bidding process for the contract.