In May 2016 on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Washington Post owner and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was using the Post for “political power” because he thought Trump would “go after him” for his “huge antitrust problem.”
Trump said, “Every hour we’re getting calls from reporters from The Washington Post asking ridiculous questions. And I will tell you, this is owned as a toy by Jeff Bezos, who controls Amazon. Amazon is getting away with murder, tax-wise. He’s using The Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don’t tax Amazon like they should be taxed. He is getting absolutely away—he’s worried about me. I think he said that to somebody; it was in some article. He thinks I’ll go after him for antitrust because he’s got a huge antitrust problem, because he’s controlling so much. Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing and what they have done. He bought this paper for practically nothing and he is using that as a tool for political power against me and against other people. And I’ll tell you what, we can’t let him get away with it.”
He added, “He’s using The Washington Post, which is peanuts, he’s using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of antitrust.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN