The war on Amazon

The latest: Federal investigators are conducting an antitrust probe into Amazon, along with Google, Apple and Facebook — and small sellers who operate on the e-commerce giant's platform are lining up to speak to the Feds, says Chris McCabe, a former Amazon employee who now consults for brands.

• "Sellers haven’t really had an outlet like the FTC before to approach with these concerns and complaints," he says.

And in just the last 4 weeks ...

• An investigation by the Wall Street Journal uncovered over 4,000 items on Amazon's site that have been deemed unsafe by federal agencies. Amazon said it continually reviews the productson its site to make sure they are safe and comply with federal regulations.
• The Journal also reported that Amazon changed its search algorithm to promote its own products.
• A number of stories have shed light on the stressful, low-paying and physically taxing jobs inside Amazon's many warehouses. The company has started paying warehouse workers to tweet positive things, and it's leading members of Congress on tours around its facilities to rehabilitate its image.
• The company grabbed headlines when it cut Prime free delivery to just one day, but that dizzying pace has implications for Amazon's contracted drivers and for the environment. Drivers have struck and injured or killed people while speeding to deliver packages on time, BuzzFeed reported. The investigation prompted 3 senators to urge CEO Jeff Bezos to keep a closer eye on Amazon's contractors.
• An Amazon spokesperson told Axios, "Safety is and will remain Amazon’s top priority as evidenced by the vast percentage of deliveries that arrive on time and without incident."
• Amazon is getting into trouble with publishers and brands. The company broke an embargo on Margaret Atwood's new novel due to a logistical error, then apologized. Birkenstock quit selling shoes on the platform after counterfeits surged.
• And it's upsetting some customers. Hijacked product reviews on the site are tricking shoppers, per Consumer Reports. "We have guardrails in place to prevent products from being incorrectly grouped, either due to human error or abuse," a company spokesperson said.

The big picture: Amazon touches everything from retail to robotics to movie-making, but "the larger the company is and the more industries it's in, the more opportunities there are to screw up," says Ryan Hamilton, a professor at Emory University.

But, but, but: Amazon is resilient.

• "Leaving Amazon requires a lot of sacrifice," Hamilton says. "To cancel Amazon Prime? That's a lifestyle change. You need to be really worked up to do that, and some people are. But most are like, 'Meh.'"

• "After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the President has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up," the letter reads.

The state of play: Several White House officials have told Axios' Alayna Treene that the administration has no plans of complying with the committees' demands for interviews or documents without a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry.

The big picture: The Trump administration's initial refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint on the president's interactions with Ukraine is what led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to finally support a formal impeachment inquiry.

Go deeper: Trump letter dares Pelosi to hold vote on impeachment inquiry

• Johnson asked the Justice Department earlier this week to look into links between Ukraine and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. His letter questioned the narrative that Biden's actions in Ukraine had nothing to do with his son's connection.
• However, it was also discovered that he signed onto a 2016 letter that mirrored Biden's work to reform Ukraine's prosecutor general and judiciary.
• There is no evidence that Biden's reform work in Ukraine was to protect his son's business dealings, as the president and some of his allies allege, or that he committed any form of corruption.

The state of play: Sondland, a Trump political appointee who donated $1 million to the president's inaugural committee, denied that there was a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Ukraine's government in a series of text messages that former Ukraine special envoy Kurt Volker provided to a group of House committees investigating the Trump-Ukraine matter.

• "I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, texted Sondland.
• Sondland texted back: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind."
• The New York Times reported that Sondland's response came only after he spoke to the president.

Go deeper: House committees release texts from former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker