Jeff Bezos slams Trump for 'working to freeze or chill the media'

Jeff Bezos says that Donald Trump needs to embrace media scrutiny.

When asked for his thoughts on Trump, Bezos highlighted Trump's antagonistic relationship with the press.

"One thing that I think is not appropriate that Donald Trump is doing is working to freeze or chill the media that are examining him," Bezos said on stage at Vox Media's Code Conference in Los Angeles.

"It's just a fact that we live in a world where half the population on this planet, if you criticize your leader, you'll go to jail or worse. We live in this amazing democracy with amazing freedom of speech and a presidential nominee should expect that."

A nominee should "expect to be scrutinized and say, 'Please examine me,'" Bezos continued. "Without those cultural norms, the Constitution is just a piece of paper."

Bezos appeared to be referencing the tense press conference he held Tuesday morning to discuss donations the Trump Foundation was said to have given to veterans' charities.

Trump ripped reporters at the event for looking into his claims that he donated $6 million - including $1 million of his own money - to the charities. At one point, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee called an ABC reporter "a real sleaze," and promised to continue his contentious relationship with political reporters.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.