A federal judge has handed Amazon a win by temporarily blocking Microsoft's JEDI contract with the Pentagon.

Amazon is in the middle of a lawsuit against the Defense Department, accusing President Trump of "repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks to steer" the Pentagon's Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract toward Microsoft in order to "harm his perceived political enemy," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The contract, which The Washington Post notes is "meant to create a powerful, centralized computing system for U.S. military agencies," is estimated to be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years, and Microsoft won it last October after Amazon claims Trump used "improper pressure" and after a process Amazon says was full of "unmistakable bias."

But as the lawsuit continues, a judge on Thursday ordered work on the network to be halted, the Post reports. Microsoft in a statement said that "we are disappointed with the additional delay" but that "we believe the facts will show [the Defense Department] ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft." The Associated Press notes Amazon was considered the frontrunner before the contract was given to Microsoft.

Meanwhile, The New York Times notes Amazon has recently "escalated the battle" over the contract, as the company is also seeking to depose Trump himself, as well as Defense Secretary Mark Esper, with an Amazon spokesperson saying, "The question is whether the president of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of the D.O.D. to pursue his own personal and political ends." Brendan Morrow

The Trump administration appears divided over whether to alter some expiring aspects of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Some White House officials within the Domestic Policy Council, spurred by the surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page which has since been called into question, are hoping to overhaul parts of FISA which are soon due to lapse. One change they're proposing, which has actually been pushed for a long time by groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, is to eventually notify subjects of national-security surveillance that they had been surveilled.

There will likely be some hurdles, though. The National Security Council, for example, generally advocates for expanded surveillance powers, and some other administration officials reportedly have privately expressed concern that the effort to scale back some of the spying powers may go too far.

President Trump hasn't said anything about the expiring segments of FISA, but he has complained about the law in relation to Page and his campaign. Still, per the Journal, presidents historically have avoided scaling back surveillance powers because they fear they'll be blamed in the event of a terrorist attack. Read more at The Wall Street Journal. Tim O'Donnell

If you saw the reports that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was briefed by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was trying to aid his Democratic presidential campaign, you might have wondered, why exactly, Moscow was targeting him. After all, President Trump is still apparently the candidate the Kremlin hopes wins, and Sanders and Trump certainly have different ideological stances.

GQ's Julia Ioffe set out to answer that question, and while she reports that some people think Sanders' non-interventionist foreign policy platform is appealing to Moscow, or that he will be easier for Trump to defeat than other more moderate candidates, she also found that it may be more about optics. "The ideal scenario is to maintain schism and uncertainty in the States till the end," said Gleb Pavlovsky, a Russian political scientist who used to advise Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Our candidate is chaos."

Essentially, as described by Ioffe's sources, Moscow is licking its chops over what could be the most extreme U.S. presidential election in quite some time, if not ever, and they want to see the country turn on itself. "All of this infighting, this cannibalism, they create and deepen the crisis of the American system," said Andranik Migranyan, a close friend of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who used to run a Russian government-funded think tank.

Migranyan went on to question — perhaps facetiously — whether the U.S. will still exist after 2025. "Your country is hurtling toward the abyss," he said.

Of course, it's unclear if that's precisely why the Kremlin seems okay with a Sanders victory — and Migranyan denies Russia is actually meddling — but it's not difficult to imagine Moscow would enjoy an even more hotly contested election than in 2016. Read more at GQ. Tim O'Donnell

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) may be basking in his victory after the Nevada caucuses, but he can't celebrate for too long. The South Carolina primary is right around the corner, and despite Sanders steadily encroaching into first place for weeks in state polls, it's still former Vice President Joe Biden's state to lose in the week leading up to the vote, a new CBS/YouGov poll revealed Sunday.

Sanders crushed his competition in Nevada, where Biden finished a distant second. South Carolina, though, has always been the early voting state the vice president has had his eye on — and he's still got a chance — but Sanders is right behind him now as Biden's once dominant lead has shrunk to just a five-point advantage over Sanders in the new poll.

Some of that likely has to do with Biden's support among black voters shrinking over the last few months. He still maintains the edge, but billionaire Tom Steyer has shot up to second place among the demographic thanks to a furious final effort in the state. Steyer, in fact, is in third place in the poll, which must excite his campaign, considering he told Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday that he'll need a top-three finish next Saturday to get back into the race.

The CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov between February 20-22, 2020. A representative sample of 2,000 registered voters in South Carolina was selected, including 1,238 self-identified Democrats, as well as independents who plan to vote in the Democratic primary this year. The margin of error is 5.5 points. Tim O'Donnell

President Trump continues to ride the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) bandwagon, but some analysts think he and his Republican supporters might want to think twice about what they're wishing for.

Trump on Sunday congratulated Sanders on his big win at the Nevada caucuses, which helped increase his lead in the Democratic presidential primary substantially, making him the frontrunner to take on Trump in the general election in November. The president said it remains to be seen if Sanders can hold on, but he just hopes the Democratic Party treats Sanders fairly, perhaps hinting that he believes there may be some sort of effort from more establishment Democrats to stop Sanders' victory from happening.

Not everyone is buying Trump's call for fairness, though. Former Obama adviser David Axelrod, for example, thinks Trump is doing what he can to divide Democrats to boost his own re-election bid.

There's also the notion out there that Trump and his supporters believe Sanders gives them the best shot at staying in the White House because the senator's more extreme ideological leanings will turn swing voters back to the GOP. But CNN political commentator Mark McKinnon, who worked for former President George W. Bush, believes Republicans may be too sure of themselves, especially because Sanders is able to rile up passion in his supporters in a fashion similar to Trump himself. Tim O'Donnell

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) thinks that even if Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proves himself to be the preferred candidate of the Democratic Party nationwide, his win could have consequences down the line.

During an appearance on ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Clyburn if a victory from Sanders, who describes himself as a Democratic Socialist, could harm the Democrats' chances of maintaining its majority in the House. Clyburn said it will likely add an "extra burden" in some places — like the more moderate and conservatives districts in South Carolina — where Democrats pulled upsets in the last midterm election. Clyburn said it'll be a challenge to hold on to those districts if candidates have to advocate for a democratic socialist.

"South Carolinians are pretty leery about that title 'socialist,'" he said.

Clyburn also said he'll finally make an endorsement this coming Wednesday, the morning after Tuesday's debate in South Carolina. Clyburn serves as the majority whip, and his support will likely go a long way in the Palmetto State, though it seems unlikely Sanders will get the nod. Tim O'Donnell

Trump's National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien doesn't believe there's anything to the reports about Russia once again interfering with the U.S. presidential election.

In an interview set to air on ABC News' This Week on Sunday, O'Brien denied being aware of U.S. intelligence reports that Russia is interfering to help Trump secure a second term in the Oval Office. He did acknowledge he hasn't sought out any information about the reports, but he said he considers it a "non-story" based on leaks from a congressional hearing.

"All I know is that the Republicans on the side of the House hearing were unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back up what was being said," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said the Trump administration has been "very tough" on Russia and has urged Moscow to stay out of U.S. elections, adding that if anyone came forward with something different, he'd be willing to take a look at it more closely. For now, though, he says the report doesn't "make any sense."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was also briefed that Moscow was attempting to aid his Democratic primary campaign. Read more at The Associated Press and ABC News. Tim O'Donnell