Amazon’s top spokesperson addressed a number of controversies surrounding the tech company in an interview Wednesday with CNBC. The Obama White House alumn is in the media hot seat this week after penning an op-ed in the New York Times defending Amazon’s treatment of workers.
Carney said Amazon’s benefits — including a $15 minimum wage, health insurance, parental leave, and career development — are often ignored by politicians on the left who criticize the company. Many of those politicians, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, sent a letter Tuesday to Amazon urging the company to take steps to reduce injuries at the company’s warehouses. The letter and Carney’s op-ed were the subjects of much Twitter sparring Tuesday afternoon, particularly between the spokesperson and journalists who cover Amazon.
Meanwhile, Amazon made an extraordinary request this week as part of a legal challenge to the Pentagon’s decision to award a valuable cloud contract to rival Microsoft. Amazon is asking a federal judge to order President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition. The goal is to reveal political bias from the president that Amazon says unduly influenced the Defense Department’s decision.
Watch Carney speak to Amazon’s big week of headlines in the video above.
