Amazon has alleged that US President Donald Trump abused his position and applied ‘improper pressure’ on Pentagon because of which it lost a USD 10 billion contract. The company added that Trump wanted to screw CEO Jeff Bezos and that is why the project was granted to Microsoft. The e-commerce giant argued in a lawsuit in the United States Court of Federal Claims that the decision should be revisited. It claimed that Trump interfered in the process of awarding the contract and there were substantial and pervasive errors. Trump has been frequently targeting Amazon and its founder Bezos. He also owns The Washington Post, which has been under fire from the US President for publishing unfavorable stories about him. Trump has even referred to the newspaper as ‘fake news’. Amazon claimed that it lost the contract because of the US President’s ‘personal vendetta’ against Bezos and Washington Post.
In the lawsuit, it claimed that Pentagon officials reviewed outdated Amazon submission for the contract before giving it to Microsoft. The tech giant won the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract which will run for up to 10 years. The legal team said in the lawsuit that there are several instances when its capabilities exceeded performance requirements. But Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith said the decision to grant the contract to Microsoft was made by a team of career public servants and military officers. Elissa emphasized that there was no external influence.
The filing comes as the US House Lawmakers prepare articles of impeachment against Trump. Meanwhile, the Defense Department has also categorically stated that hatred of Trump for Bezos has nothing to do with the contract allotment. Amazon was apparently the frontrunner for the JEDI contract. So much so that tech giants like IBM and Oracle lodged formal protests and even alleged that the proposal for JEDI was designed with one company in mind. Microsoft and Amazon became the finalist after IBM and Oracle were eliminated in an earlier round. Microsoft in a statement said that it had confidence in the Defense Department who conducted the review.