- The Defense Department's inspector general cleared Microsoft's $10 billion JEDI cloud contract award, but said it couldn't fully investigate rival Amazon's claim that President Trump interfered in the process.
- The Pentagon watchdog said the White House asserted a "presidential communications privilege" in preventing witnesses from discussing communications between the White House and DoD officials on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure.
- The inspector general said it was not even able to "corroborate or disprove" a claim that Trump ordered former Defense Secretary James Mattis to "screw Amazon" in the JEDI contract.
- When asked by the inspector general about that anecdote, Mattis said, according to the report: "I don't recall that. It could have happened."
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The Defense Department's inspector general has cleared Microsoft's $10 billion JEDI contract, but said it couldn't fully investigate rival Amazon's key complaint: that President Donald Trump interfered in the process.
The inspector general deemed the Pentagon's decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract proper and "consistent" with agency standards, according to a report released by the Department of Defense on Wednesday.
But the watchdog said it couldn't do a thorough investigation of Amazon's allegation about Trump's role in the decision because key witnesses were barred by the White House from cooperating with the probe.
Amazon has claimed that Trump's animosity toward CEO Jeff Bezos played a role in the Pentagon's surprise decision to give the contract to Microsoft.
"We could not review this matter fully because of the assertion of a 'presidential communications privilege,' which resulted in several DoD witnesses being instructed by the DoD Office of General Counsel not to answer our questions about potential communications between White House and DoD officials about JEDI," the report said.
As a result, the watchdog said it "could not definitively determine the full extent or nature of interactions" between Trump administration officials with senior Pentagon officials regarding the JEDI contract.
The inspector general said it was not even able to "corroborate or disprove" a claim in the book, "Holding the Line," by Guy Snodgrass, am ex- speechwriter of former Defense Secretary James Mattis. In the book which was published last year, Snodgrass said Trump ordered Mattis to "screw Amazon" in the JEDI contract.
When asked by the inspector general about that anecdote, Mattis said, according to the report: "I don't recall that. It could have happened but I just don't recall those words."
Mattis also said the book "is full of inaccuracies." But he said he knew of Trump's "dissatisfaction with Amazon. I mean I knew that loud and clear. I knew that before he, you know if he and I spoke on the phone about it I was already aware from early on his views of Amazon, Washington Post, and Jeff Bezos, but I don't recall us having a discussion about it."
The inspector general said the White House was willing to allow witnesses to submit written answers to the agency's questions, although the responses would also have to be approved by the administration. The inspector general said it decided to decline the offer since it "would not assure that we would be receiving full information from the witnesses."
The Pentagon's decision to award the contract to Microsoft was seen as a major blow to Amazon, the most dominant player in the cloud. The JEDI project will create a massive cloud platform that would store sensitive military and defense department data.
Amazon could not immediately be reached for comment.
Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw said the inspector general's report "makes clear the DoD established a proper procurement process."
"At this stage, Amazon is both delaying critical work for the nation's military and trying to undo the mistake it made when it bid too high a price," he said in a statement emailed to Business insider.
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