President Trump on Friday demanded that Microsoft hearth Lisa Monaco — the previous Biden-era deputy lawyer basic now serving because the tech big’s president of world affairs — calling her “a menace to U.S. Nationwide Safety” with entry to “Extremely Delicate Data.”
Trump, in a Reality Social put up, urged the software program big to “instantly terminate the employment of Lisa Monaco,” warning that her function overseeing Microsoft’s world coverage poses dangers given the agency’s huge US authorities contracts.
Trump additionally claimed Monaco had her federal safety clearances revoked earlier this 12 months and was barred from authorities services over unspecified “wrongful acts.”
Monaco, 57, served as deputy lawyer basic below former President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025, overseeing prosecutions and nationwide safety circumstances because the Justice Division’s second-in-command.
She is alleged to have had a outstanding function in overseeing high-profile and politically delicate circumstances such because the division’s prosecution of Trump in addition to circumstances involving Jan. 6 defendants.
Monaco additionally served within the Obama administration as White Home homeland safety and counterterrorism adviser from 2013 to 2017, coordinating the federal government’s response to terrorism and cyber threats.
Earlier than that, Monaco led the Justice Division’s Nationwide Safety Division as assistant lawyer basic from 2011 to 2013, after serving as principal affiliate deputy lawyer basic and as chief of employees to FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Microsoft has declined to touch upon the matter.
The Biden Justice Division pursued a number of felony and civil circumstances towards Trump, together with indictments led by Particular Counsel Jack Smith over election interference and categorised paperwork.
The Biden DOJ was additionally accused of expediting prosecutions with the intention to inflict harm on Trump’s candidacy. Biden and then-Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland insisted selections have been made independently.
Smith is below investigation by the Workplace of Particular Counsel after GOP Sen. Tom Cotton alleged his prosecutions of Trump have been politically motivated and tried to have an effect on the 2024 presidential election.
Smith has denied the allegations.
Trump’s demand that Microsoft oust Monaco comes at a delicate time for the tech behemoth.
Microsoft is below an intensive antitrust investigation by the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) — a probe which started throughout the Biden administration below Lina Khan and has intensified below Trump’s FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson.
Each Democratic and Republican officers have expressed concern about Microsoft’s market dominance in cloud computing, synthetic intelligence and productiveness software program.
The FTC investigation targets Microsoft’s follow of bundling Workplace productiveness, cloud and cybersecurity companies, particularly for profitable authorities contracts, doubtlessly locking in federal businesses and stifling competitors.
Microsoft has denied wrongdoing.
On Thursday, Trump’s DOJ charged former FBI Director James Comey with perjury and obstruction of justice.
The fees stem from Comey’s testimony to a Congressional committee in 2020 throughout which he denied authorizing leaks to the press associated to FBI investigations into alleged collusion between the Trump marketing campaign and Russia in 2015-16.
Comey has denied the claims made within the indictment.
The Submit has sought remark from the White Home.
