Amazon.com won a victory in its legal fight against president Donald Trump when a federal judge Thursday ordered Microsoft Corporation to pause all work on the $10 billion contracts it received for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud computing program.
Amazon was granted a temporary restraining order temporarily preventing Microsoft from starting work on the contract. This turn of events is the latest chapter in a saga pitting Trump against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Trump despises Bezos, who owns The Washington Post -- a newspaper that's one of Trump's leading critics -- for not preventing the paper from criticizing him.
Amazon sued the Department of Defense (DoD) in November 2019 after the latter awarded Microsoft the JEDI contract in a move that surprised both the defense and tech industries. In its lawsuit, Amazon claims Trump's personal hatred of Bezos and Amazon improperly influenced the DoD to award the contract to Microsoft.
Amazon and its cloud computing subsidiary, Amazon Web Services (AWC), the world's largest provider of cloud computing services, were the frontrunners for the JEDI project until Trump attacked the bidding process in July 2019. Trump made the false statement he was "getting tremendous complaints about the contract with the Pentagon and with Amazon ... they're saying it wasn't competitively bid."
A few weeks later, Trump's sycophantic defense secretary, Mark Esper, launched a review of the procurement process. The DoD surprised many by later awarding JEDI to Microsoft on October 25 on Esper's orders.
Microsoft was disappointed at the temporary restraining order halting all work on JEDI.
"While we are disappointed with the additional delay we believe that we will ultimately be able to move forward with the work to make sure those who serve our country can access the new technology they urgently require," said Frank Shaw, Microsoft's corporate vice president of communications. "We have confidence in the Department of Defense, and we believe the facts will show they ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter was best met by Microsoft."
On Monday, AWS said it wants to depose Trump and six Trump officials over the JEDI contract fiasco. It wants to question Trump about his involvement in the bidding process, including any private conversations that took place or any instructions he gave regarding the award, as well as any "efforts to harm Amazon or AWS."
AWS also wants to depose Esper, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Defense Department's chief information officer, Dana Deasy, and two members of the source selection authority.
In court documents unsealed Monday, AWS said it wants to depose seven individuals instrumental in the JEDI source selection and who played pivotal roles in the ultimate awarding of the contract.
"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" said an AWS spokesperson.
"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."
