Jeff Bezos may be better known as the founder of Amazon, but these days, Bezos is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company he founded. However, he was more involved in another acquisition, The Washington Post. It was because of his involvement with The Washington Post that Bezos was forced to answer questions about his relationship with President Trump.
Bezos reportedly hosted a team of Washington Post editors and reporters for lunch at his mansion in Washington on Thursday. All invitees must leave their cell phones outside to keep the meeting private. However, some details of the meeting have been reported.
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Status said Bezos fielded angry questions from invited reporters about everything from layoffs at The Washington Post to Amazon’s documentary about first lady Melania Trump.
According to Status, “Bezos was asked pointedly by a staffer whether Amazon’s involvement in the Melania Trump documentary was an attempt to curry favor with the Trump administration.” “Bezos denied that and became increasingly defensive, insisting it was a ‘hands off’ deal in which he was not personally involved.” He also said the documentary will still pay dividends.
The documentary is directed by Brett Ratner, who has faced multiple sexual assault charges and was recently named in Epstein’s dossier.
Bezos was also apparently grilled over what staff said was his support for the Trump administration. Not only has The Washington Post been hit hard by layoffs, but it has also seen the departure of several well-respected veteran journalists as the paper’s ideological leanings shift. Three of them are Pulitzer Prize winners.
“While Bezos reiterated his support for the future of The Washington Post, he emphasized that the paper’s business strategy must be driven by data, which he said in a statement last month shortly after Will Lewis was ousted as CEO and publisher,” Status reported.
However, the newspaper is reportedly already trying to roll back some of its recent layoffs. According to Status, they have contacted at least 10 laid-off journalists “to assess their interest in returning to the paper in new roles.” “The severity of the effort appears to represent a tacit understanding that the initial cuts may be too deep, confusing employees.”
All of this comes after former Post executive editor Martin Baron told Jen Psaki on The Briefing that the Post’s layoffs were all about Trump. “I use the term ‘Donald Trump’ to explain. That’s how it happened.”
“Trump is in office again,” Barron said. “He has promised revenge against his perceived political enemies. Jeff Bezos is considered a political enemy by Donald Trump for one reason only: The Washington Post’s reporting.”
Barron said the change in newspaper coverage was directly related to this. “This is a newspaper that prides itself on its independence, and Jeff Bezos’ actions show readers that he is anything but independent,” Barron said. “He’s actually very dependent – dependent on Donald Trump.”
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