Cicilline and Gaetz Question Whether Amazon Misled Congress
GoLocalProv News Team
Cicilline and Gaetz Question Whether Amazon Misled Congress
Cicilline -- the Chairman of Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee -- joined Gaetz and three other lawmakers in sending a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Sunday.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the lawmakers are asking the company to provide “exculpatory evidence” to corroborate the sworn testimony that several leaders, including then-CEO Jeff Bezos, provided to the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee in 2019 and 2020.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAt issue is "how Amazon responded to accusations that it uses the data of third-party sellers on its site when creating private-label products. Amazon executives repeatedly told members of the subcommittee in testimony and in written responses that it doesn’t use the data of individual third-party sellers to inform its vast lines of its own brands," reported the WSJ.
“We strongly encourage you to make use of this opportunity to correct the record and provide the Committee with sworn, truthful, and accurate responses to this request as we consider whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate,” the members wrote in the letter.
According to WSJ, an Amazon spokesman told the publication that the company and its executives didn’t mislead the committee.
Bipartisan Approach to Big Tech?
This isn't the first time Gaetz - a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump who is reported to be under investigation by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him -- and Democrats including Cicilline, one of the most politically polarizing Democrats in Congress -- have agreed on certain aspects the issue.
"Democrats and Republicans form odd alliances during tech antitrust debate," reported CNBC in June, during a House Judiciary markup of a half-dozen anti-trust bills, writing:
At one point during the hearing, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., turned to Gaetz and said, “I find myself in rare agreement with the gentleman.”
“Let’s not make it common, Mr. Chairman,” Gaetz responded.
"Within the scope of the debate, however, such odd couples were common," wrote CNBC. "On the same side of the debate with broad support of the bills were antitrust subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Ranking Member Ken Buck, R-Colo., leaders of the subcommittee who have remained close allies throughout the investigation their panel ran into Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google."
The letter sent on Sunday -- and signed by Cicilline and Gaetz -- comes following reports last week by news outlets including Reuters and the Markup who published reports that Amazon used internal data to copy products and advantage private-label products on its site. The articles were cited in the letter.
Amazon told Reuters that the claims in its article “are factually incorrect and unsubstantiated,” and Amazon told the Markup that it doesn’t favor its brands in search results and declined to answer additional questions.
According to WSJ, the letter sent this weekend by the five lawmakers names Jeff Bezos, who testified in July of 2020; Nate Sutton, Amazon’s associate general counsel, who testified in July of 2019; and correspondence from David Zapolsky, the company’s general counsel, and Brian Huseman, its vice president for public policy.
