Amazon wants to depose President Trump regarding JEDI cloud contract

Amazon last month filed a motion in court to temporarily block Microsoft from working on JEDI contract. As per the contract, Microsoft will start the contract work on Feb. 11. So, Amazon was seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the issuance of substantive task orders under the contract.

“It is common practice to stay contract performance while a protest is pending and it’s important that the numerous evaluation errors and blatant political interference that impacted the JEDI award decision be reviewed. AWS is absolutely committed to supporting the DoD’s modernization efforts and to an expeditious legal process that resolves this matter as quickly as possible,” Amazon said last month.

Today, Amazon filed a petition in court that it wants to depose President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, DoD’s CIO, Dana Deasy and former Defense Secretary James Mattis. Amazon believes that these individuals were instrumental in awarding the JEDI contract to Microsoft.

“President 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 preservation of public confidence in the nation’s procurement process requires discovery and supplementation of the administrative record, particularly in light of President Trump’s order to ‘screw Amazon.’ The question is whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of the DoD to pursue his own personal and political ends,” Amazon said in a statement to CNBC.

Amazon believes that Donald Trump launched “behind-the-scenes attacks” against it, making it to lose the contract. Amazon mentioned in its court filings that only President Trump can testify about the totality of his conversations and the overall message he conveyed.

You can learn more about Amazon’s court filing from the source link below.

via: CNBC