A new book reportedly alleges that President Trump instructed then-Defense Secretary James Mattis to “screw Amazon” out of the opportunity to bid on a $10 billion contract in 2018.
Military news outlet Task & Purpose reported that an upcoming book, “Holding The Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon with Secretary Mattis,” written by the former secretary’s erstwhile speechwriter and communications director Guy Snodgrass, divulges and outlines the accusation.
A portion of the book also details Mattis’s ethical struggle with the president’s demands.
“Relaying the story to us during Small Group, Mattis said, ‘We’re not going to do that. This will be done by the book, both legally and ethically,” Snodgrass reportedly wrote.
Trump has often lashed out at Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.
Last year, he accused Amazon of scamming the Postal Service on shipping costs.
The Hill has reached out to the White House, Defense Department and Amazon for comment.
The Pentagon announced Friday that it had awarded a $10 billion contract to Microsoft over Amazon.
The department said in a statement that giving the contract to Microsoft “continues our strategy of a multi-vendor, multi-cloud environment” and that “the department’s needs are diverse and cannot be met by any single supplier.”
According to CNN, a Mattis spokeswoman this week released a statement in response to the book calling Snodgrass a “junior staffer” who “played no role in decision making.” Snodgrass reportedly responded by showing a citation he was given saying he played an important role in the Defense Department’s messaging.