Pentagon IG couldn't rule out White House meddling in huge contract awarded to Microsoft over Amazon

The Pentagon inspector general's office said in a report Wednesday that it found no evidence of decisive irregularities in the Defense Department's decision to award a $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract to Microsoft over Amazon Web Services last October. But the inspector general investigation "could not definitively determine the full extent or nature" of White House input into the decision, because seven senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, had asserted "a 'presidential communications privilege'" and refused to hand over White House communications, the report found.

After the Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft, Amazon — seen as the favorite going in — sued in federal court, accusing President Trump or his aides of improperly weighing in to steer the contract away from Amazon because Trump doesn't like CEO Jeff Bezos. The report said auditors "could not be certain whether there were any White House communications with some DoD officials which may have affected the JEDI procurement," though they also did not find any positive evidence of White House interference.

Among the dozens of people the inspector general's office interviewed was former Defense Secretary James Mattis. Asked about a former staff member's written recollection that Trump told Mattis to "screw Amazon" out of the JEDI contract, Mattis said he "cannot confirm" the account or "recall the president's words on this (JEDI)."

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A Pentagon spokesman said the 300-page IG report "should finally close the door on the media and corporate-driven attacks on the career procurement officials." Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the report "troubling and incomplete" and said it "offers yet another example of the president’s efforts to inappropriately pressure federal agencies." Amazon's case is ongoing in court.