# Amazon says DOD denied them a contract since Trump dislikes Bezos **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 9, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617 "2019-12-09T21:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/1 "2019-12-09T21:18:20Z")
Trump regularly bashes Bezos and the Wash. Post. I would guess this ends up in court eventually. > **[Amazon claims Trump interfered with Pentagon contract in order to hurt Jeff...](https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/09/tech/amazon-pentagon-trump-bezos/index.html)** > > Amazon alleged on Monday that President Donald Trump abused his position to apply "improper pressure" on Pentagon decision-makers to stop the company from winning a military contract worth billions of dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/2 "2019-12-09T21:46:58Z")
Could you give us just a little more to chew on? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/3 "2019-12-09T21:50:33Z")
Doesnt Bezos and Amazon have contracts with the CIA _and_ also own the Post which reports on this agency? That seems like a conflict of interest. ETA:: And wouldnt a contract with the DoD inherently possess the same conflict? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/4 "2019-12-09T21:56:38Z")
I don’t know any more that what is in the linked article. Pretty sure Bezos has no role at the Post other than being the owner. Amazon probably does have other US government contracts. Very common for the losing bidders to protest a very big contract award like this. It’s not common that the protest is upheld. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/5 "2019-12-09T22:04:48Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I don’t know any more that what is in the linked article. Pretty sure Bezos has no role at the Post other than being the owner. Amazon probably does have other US government contracts. > > Very common for the losing bidders to protest a very big contract award like this. It’s not common that the protest is upheld. > **[Washington Post-CIA connections: back to basics](https://www.opednews.com/populum/page.php?f=Washington-Post-CIA-connec-by-Jon-Rappoport-Amazon_CIA_Jeff-Bezos_Washington-Post-180726-265.html)** > > I could go on and on about the Post and its historic CIA ties. But now, right now, the owner of the Post is Jeff Bezos, who also owns Amazon. And Amazon has a $600 million contract to provide the CIA cloud computing services. Boom. It appears to be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/6 "2019-12-09T22:07:27Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > [Article: Washington Post-CIA connections: back to basics | OpEd News](https://www.opednews.com/articles/Washington-Post-CIA-connec-by-Jon-Rappoport-Amazon_CIA_Jeff-Bezos_Washington-Post-180726-265.html) > > It appears to be an issue. Eta: that prob wasnt the best cite. There are plenty tho ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/7 "2019-12-09T22:12:16Z")
I worked for a place that got bought by a big company that had a lot of DOD and CIA contracts. We had a division that did a lot of work in 3rd world countries. They sold that division off because they knew it would not be good for those people working in 3rd world countries to be linked to DOD/CIA. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/8 "2019-12-10T00:40:06Z")
Seems possible. Trump held up aid to a country at war with Russia. Is it so outrageous to suspect that he might want to punish Bezos for owning a newspaper that is critical of him? Now, just because it is plausible doesn’t mean it happened. But we are talking about a President who isn’t on a first name basis with the concept of ethics. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/9 "2019-12-10T01:41:41Z")
I don’t think we have enough information to make any useful comments on this. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/10 "2019-12-10T03:12:30Z")
Every President since FDR, and probably before, has complained about the obstructionist government bureaucracy. Without more evidence, it’s impossible to say whether the DOD was carrying out Trump’s wishes or its own plans. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/11 "2019-12-10T17:58:02Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Doesnt Bezos and Amazon have contracts with the CIA _and_ also own the Post which reports on this agency? That seems like a conflict of interest. > > ETA:: And wouldnt a contract with the DoD inherently possess the same conflict? Given the number of articles that are critical of Amazon and Bezos that appear in the post, it’s pretty clear that Bezos doesn’t exert a lot of editorial control. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-says-dod-denied-them-a-contract-since-trump-dislikes-bezos/844617/12 "2020-02-13T19:56:06Z")
Judge blocks Microsoft work on the contract while Amazon’s lawsuit goes forward [https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/13/amazon-gets-restraining-order-to-block-microsoft-work-on-pentagon-jedi.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/13/amazon-gets-restraining-order-to-block-microsoft-work-on-pentagon-jedi.html)