Congressional panel wants Bezos to testify
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee on Friday called on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress in a major escalation of its investigation into the country’s largest technology companies.
Bezos, the world’s richest person, is the highestprofile executive called to testify as part of the investigation.
The move would allow lawmakers to question him about accusations that Amazon abuses its market power in online retail, mistreats warehouse workers and hurts small businesses.
Many other tech leaders, including Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google, have appeared before Congress in recent years, answering questions on issues such as privacy and the spread of disinformation.
Bezos hasn’t yet endured the same spotlight.
The Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee has been investigating the power of Amazon, along with that of Facebook,
Google and Apple.
Last year, lawmakers requested a slew of internal documents from the companies, including emails between top executives. The committee’s letter to Bezos on Friday was a sign the inquiry hasn’t stopped.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by the committee’s Democratic chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, threatened to use the panel’s power to legally compel Bezos to testify if he does not do so willingly, a serious step in any congressional investigation.
“Although we expect that you will testify on a voluntary basis, we reserve the right to resort to compulsory process if necessary,” the lawmakers wrote to Bezos.
An Amazon spokeswoman did not immediately offer a comment on the committee’s demands.
Bezos has traditionally relied on his deputies, such as Jay Carney, a former White House press secretary, to interact with policymakers. He has done few indepth interviews about Amazon in recent years. But he has made moves toward becoming a greater presence in Washington.
He bought the Washington Post in 2013 and keeps a sprawling home in the city’s upscale Kalorama neighborhood. This year, he hosted an after-party for the annual Alfalfa Club dinner at his mansion, drawing business and political leaders.
President Donald Trump has frequently targeted Bezos for criticism and tried to link Amazon to the Post when attacking the paper. (The publication is owned by Bezos personally and has no corporate relationship with Amazon.)
Last fall, the Pentagon awarded a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft over Amazon’s rival bid; Amazon has sued, saying Trump’s antagonism was a factor.
The decision to call Bezos to testify comes after an article in the Wall Street Journal detailed how Amazon employees had used data from third-party sellers to hone its private label offerings, potentially contradicting testimony given by an Amazon lawyer to the committee last year.
The lawmakers said in their letter that if the “article is accurate, then statements Amazon made to the committee about the company’s business practices appear to be misleading, and possibly criminally false or perjurious.”
Amazon executives have said they did not believe that the allegations in the article were accurate, but the company announced an internal investigation into the issues.
So far, the antitrust investigation has been largely a bipartisan affair. But there are signs that is changing. A few Republicans on the committee signed the letter, though Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio lawmaker who just took over as the panel’s top Republican, did not.
Russell Dye, a spokesman for the committee’s Republicans, said, “our members have questions for Amazon and want to get answers for the American people” but that “we wonder what Judiciary Democrats’ true motivations are.”
Dye said that earlier this year, Democrats said that “companies like Amazon should not exist and should be broken up simply because they are large successful businesses.”