Pentagon’s $9B Dell deal sparks Trump conflict of interest concerns

The Pentagon’s new $9.7 billion contract with Dell is raising questions about potential conflicts of interest after President Trump touted the company’s products and purchased significant amounts of its stock.

The Department of Defense (DOD) on Wednesday announced a five-year agreement with Dell for Microsoft software and cloud services as part of an effort consolidate dozens of separate contracts into a “single enterprisewide contract.”

“This second-generation blanket purchase agreement will streamline and consolidate critical Microsoft software and services across the Department of War, the intelligence community and the U.S. Coast Guard,” Kirsten Davies, the Pentagon’s chief information officer, said in a statement, using the administration’s preferred name for the Defense Department.

The contract comes as Trump has invested in Dell several times in recent months. He bought between $1 million and $5 million of the company’s stock in early February, followed by a series of smaller stock purchases in March, according to his most recent ethics disclosure.

Trump has also repeatedly urged his supporters to buy the company’s hardware and praised the tech firm on several occasions. During a February rally in Georgia, the president said the Texas-based tech giant makes “great products.”

“They’re not looking for any publicity. I give them publicity. They say, ‘Well, thank you very much, but........

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