Amazon wants to depose Trump in its JEDI protest saying his 'bias' against founder Jeff Bezos influenced DoD decision

• Amazon told a federal court it wants to depose President Trump in connection with its legal case challenging the Pentagon's decision to award the $10 billion JEDI contract to Microsoft.
• Amazon said Trump's "long-standing hostility" toward the tech giant and its CEO Jeff Bezos played a critical role in the Defense Department's decision on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, project. Amazon, the dominant player in the cloud market, had been the favorite to win the contract.
• In a court filing on Monday, Amazon said "President Trump's bias against" Amazon and Bezos was "a matter of public record. Even before taking office, President Trump campaigned on a promise that Amazon would 'have problems' if he became President."
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Amazon wants President Trump to explain under oath what he knows about JEDI.

Amazon is asking a court to allow the tech giant to depose Trump in connection with the Defense Department's decision to award the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract to rival Microsoft.

The Pentagon awarded the major public cloud contract to Microsoft late last year, in a stunning defeat for Amazon, the most dominant player in the cloud market which was widely expected to prevail. Amazon is challenging the decision in federal court.

In a Monday court filing, Amazon argued that Trump improperly intervened in the bid process based on his personal dislike for its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. Bezos is also the owner of The Washington Post which is known for its reporting critical of the Trump Administration.

"President Trump's bias against Jeffrey P. Bezos is a matter of public record," Amazon said in the filing. "Even before taking office, President Trump campaigned on a promise that Amazon would 'have problems' if he became president."

An Amazon Web Services spokesman told Business Insider in an email: "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 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 Trump's "actions, comments, and directives were communicated to, understood by, and ultimately affected DoD decision."

The tech giant said it wants to depose Trump, citing the president's "well-documented personal animus towards Mr. Bezos, Amazon, and the Washington Post."

The president said in July that he was personally looking into the contract. He didn't mention Bezos by name at the time, but he has previously criticized Bezos and Amazon as perceived adversaries of his administration.

Amazon also wants to depose former Defense Secretary James Mattis and current Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

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