Jeff Bezos fires back at Trump with crack about John Miller
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
"That's not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave," Bezos said in an interview with the Washington Post's executive editor Martin Baron on Wednesday.
Bezos comments were made in response to Trump's recent accusations that the Amazon CEO was using the Washington Post as a tax shelter, saying that if he becomes president, Amazon is "going to have such problems."
Bezos said that he's "very comfortable" with Amazon's business and the way it pays taxes, adding he'd welcome the company getting scrutinized and examined.
"I think a company like Amazon also deserves to be scrutinized and examined and criticized, and I have no worries about that," he said.
Bezos pointed out that the same level of scrutiny must be applied to elected officials, especially those running for the highest office, and that it's "critical" to build a society that allows individuals and institutions to criticize them when necessary.
"We live in the oldest and greatest democracy in the world with the strongest free speech protections in the world. And it's something that we are, I think, rightly proud of. And it's critical that we're able to carefully examine our leaders," he said.
Bezos also made sure to throw some shade at Trump by bringing up John Miller, the fake spokesperson Trump is accused of having masqueraded as.
"If you write a story and make sure people know about John Miller, it's still the citizens' decisions how to weigh that. They may decide it's fine to pretend that you're your own publicist. And if they do, that's fine. It really is. That's not our job," he said.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.
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