Bernie Sanders joined Trump in criticizing Amazon, saying he thinks Jeff Bezos' company has gotten too big

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Sen. Bernie Sanders

• Sen. Bernie Sanders believes Amazon has gotten too large.
• In an interview on CNN, the former presidential hopeful said, "I think it is important to take a look at the power and influence that Amazon has."
• Sanders' comment follow President Trump's repeated attacks on the company.

Senator Bernie Sanders thinks Amazon has gotten so large that it requires closer scrutiny of its "power and influence."

On CNN's State of the Union program on Sunday, network anchor Jake Tapper asked Sanders if Amazon had gotten too big.

"Yeah, I do. I do," responded the independent Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential hopeful. "This is an issue that has got to be looked at. What we are seeing all over this country is the decline in retail. We're seeing this incredibly large company getting involved in almost every area of commerce.

"And I think it is important to take a look at the power and influence that Amazon has."

Amazon representatives declined to comment.

Sanders is one of a growing number of politicians who have been criticizing or raising concerns about the online retail giant. His remarks are evidence of a rising tide of bipartisan anti-Amazon sentiment in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly gone after the company over its impact on the American retail sector and for the US Postal Service's supposedly money-losing deal with it. Meanwhile, high-profile Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said Monday on Twitter he is concerned that Amazon could lead to "less competition" in the long run.

Amazon's rise to become an online behemoth worth $668 billion has coincided with a decline of the American brick-and-mortar retail industry. With more and more consumers shopping online, more than 6,400 stores closed throughout the country in 2017. And the company isn't sitting still. Instead, it's continually branching out into - and potentially threatening the stalwarts in - new industries, from ocean shipping to student loans. 

Sanders' remarks on CNN came after he criticized Amazon and other tech giants in an interview with The Guardian last week.

"When you have companies like Amazon that have extraordinary power, when you have companies like Facebook that to a significant degree control discourse, am I concerned about monopoly power? Absolutely," he told The Guardian. "We need to have the kind of discussion that Congress has not had yet."

Trump has repeatedly attacked Amazon amid a long-running feud with CEO Jeff Bezos. The president has called on Amazon to pay more taxes and has charged that its dealings with the USPS are a "scam."

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement provided to Bloomberg that its arrangements are "profitable" for the USPS.

Here's the video of Sanders' remarks: