Voice of America
10 Dec 2019, 02:35 GMT+10
Amazon accused U.S. President Donald Trump of using "improper pressure" and bias that harmed its chances of winning a lucrative $10 billion contract from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Amazon said in a lawsuit unsealed Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that it lost the cloud computing contract, which was awarded to rival Microsoft, due to Trump's "personal vendetta against Mr. (Jeff) Bezos, Amazon, and The Washington Post."
Bezos owns Amazon and the Post. Trump has frequently attacked Bezos and Amazon for its low tax payments. and has accused the Post of spreading "fake news."
Amazon said in its lawsuit that Trump launched "repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks to steer" the Pentagon cloud contract away from Amazon. It said Trump's interference made it impossible for the Department of Defense to choose a winner "reasonably, consistently, and in a fair and equal manner."
The suit is calling for the Pentagon to revisit its decision.
"The question is whether the president of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of DoD to pursue his own personal and political ends," the Amazon complaint states.
Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith said in a statement Monday that the selection of Microsoft was made without external influence "by an expert team of career public servants and military officers."
The White House did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
The high-stakes cloud computing project, formally called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, is part of a Pentagon effort to store and process large amounts of classified data.
Amazon and Microsoft were the finalists for the project after Oracle and IBM were eliminated from contention.
Get a daily dose of South East Asia Post news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to South East Asia Post.
More InformationIn the past month alone, 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza—three more than the number of remaining living hostages held...
LONDON, U.K.: At least 13 people are believed to have taken their own lives as a result of the U.K.'s Post Office scandal, in which...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Travelers at U.S. airports will no longer need to remove their shoes during security screenings, Department of Homeland...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: An elaborate impersonation scheme involving artificial intelligence targeted senior U.S. and foreign officials in...
SLUBICE, Poland: Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania on July 7, following Germany's earlier reintroduction...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: After months of warnings from former federal officials and weather experts, the deadly flash floods that struck the...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A federal rule designed to make it easier for Americans to cancel subscriptions has been blocked by a U.S. appeals...
BASTROP, Texas: In a surprising turn at Elon Musk's X platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced she is stepping down, just months after...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak will return to Goldman Sachs in an advisory role, the Wall Street...
LONDON, U.K.: Physically backed gold exchange-traded funds recorded their most significant semi-annual inflow since the first half...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Some 32 percent of global semiconductor production could face climate change-related copper supply disruptions...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday with all the major indices gaining ground. Markets in the UK, Europe and Canada...