San Francisco (AFP)

Amazon wants Donald Trump to explain Pentagon's $ 10 billion mega-contract to Microsoft, online retail giant showing determination to challenge decision and attack US president as much as possible .

"President Donald Trump has a well-documented personal animosity towards Mr. Bezos, Amazon and the Washington Post," says Jeff Bezos' group - who personally also owns the Washington Post-- in his application filed in a court of justice on Monday.

Amazon, leader in the cloud market (remote computing and data storage) in the United States, was favored for the contract JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), which extends over a period of ten years.

It aims to modernize all the computer systems of the American armed forces in a system managed by artificial intelligence.

Since Microsoft won it in November, Amazon accuses the president of having piloted the choice of the Pentagon without consideration for objective arguments, which, according to her, largely favor him, whether in terms of experience or technology.

"President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to use his leadership as an army chief to interfere with government functions, including the awarding of federal contracts, for personal gain," said a spokesperson for the Amazon Division. Web Services (AWS).

Amazon notably refers to remarks reported by James Mattis. The former Secretary of State for Defense said that Donald Trump told him to "send the Amazon to graze" during a discussion on this contract.

"Maintaining public confidence in the process of awarding contracts requires an additional investigation of the administrative records, especially in view of the order of the president + to send grazing Amazon +", continues the spokesman.

"The question to ask is this: should the President of the United States be allowed to use the budget of the Defense Ministry for personal and political purposes?", He concludes.

AWS would also like questions from James Mattis, Mark Esper, the current Minister of Defense, and others involved in the decision-making process.

In December, the Pentagon said that Amazon's complaint would not delay implementation of the contract.

© 2020 AFP