Trump called then-Defense Secretary James Mattis and ordered the Pentagon to “screw Amazon” out of a $10 billion contract, which is an impeachable abuse of power.
Task & Purpose has some quotes from the forthcoming book about Mattis and Trump’s Pentagon titled, Holding The Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon with Secretary Mattis written by Guy Snodgrass, who was Mattis’s speechwriter and communications director at the Pentagon:
Snodgrass reveals that Trump called Mattis in the summer of 2018 and directed him to “screw Amazon” out of a chance to bid on a $10 billion cloud networking contract.
Trump has long held a grudge against Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post. He’s accused Amazon of scamming the Postal Service (it’s not), and has railed against The Post as a “lobbying tool for Amazon,” often after the paper reports on news unfavorable to the president.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Snodgrass writes: “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.”
Trump ordered the Secretary of Defense to screw Amazon because he doesn’t like his coverage in The Washington Post. As in the Ukraine scandal, this is an abuse of presidential power for personal gain or retribution.
Donald Trump is using the federal government as his own score-settling machine. Trump is going after his critics and enemies, both real and imagined and abusing presidential power to do so. Trump’s attempt to screw Amazon is an impeachable offense, but it also part of a pattern of behavior. Donald Trump has consistently used his office for personal or political gain.
Trump’s actions all fall under a predictable umbrella. The House could spend years trying to impeach on every single specific offense. It is better to go broad and bundle his crimes against the presidency into one overarching charge of abuse of power.
Never has a president done so much in such a short period of time to deserve impeachment and removal.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
