Jeff Bezos Says He Didn’t Know Blue Origin Met With Trump While Trying to Calm Washington Post Storm

Jeff Bezos says there is “no connection” between the Washington Post’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate and his space company’s meeting with former President Donald Trump.

Bezos – who founded Amazon And Blue origin and owner of the Post – published an editorial Monday evening about the Post’s decision in an effort to stem the flow of subscribers canceling their plans. More than from Monday afternoon 200,000 subscribers had canceled their subscriptions to the Post, accounting for about 8% of the newspaper’s paid circulation, NPR reports.

In addition to the general controversy over a high-profile newspaper refusing to endorse a candidate for the first time in nearly four decades, subscribers and online commentators alike were angered by Bezos’ reported involvement in the decision. What’s more, there was talk of a tit-for-tat deal, with reports noting that Blue Origin had met with the former president on the day the publication said it would not give an endorsement.

“I would also like to make it clear that there is no quid pro quo of any kind at work here,” Bezos wrote, adding that the decision was made entirely internally. “Neither the campaign nor the candidate was consulted or informed at any level about this decision.”

The world’s third-richest man said he sighed when he “discovered” he was CEO of Blue Origin Dave Limp had met with Trump and wrote that neither he nor Limp were aware of the meeting in advance. According to Bezos, it was planned “quickly that morning.” Trump also met with Megan Mitchell, Blue Origin’s vice president of government relations, reported the Associated Press.

Blue Origin has one Contract worth $3.4 billion to build spacecraft that would allow astronauts to travel to and from the moon compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance for contracts worth up to $5.6 billion over fiscal years 2025 through 2029.

During the Trump administration, Amazon (AMZN) sued the federal government after it lost a lucrative contract known as JEDI to Microsoft (MSFT); that $10 billion deal came later cancelled by the Pentagon during the first months of the Biden administration, which announced a new contract. Amazon had argued that Trump had launched “behind the scenes attacks” against Amazon, citing his criticism of Bezos and the Post.

The Post’s withheld endorsement was seen as another example of tech executives and billionaires preparing for a possible second Trump administration. Metas (META) Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim CookAmazon CEO Andy Jassy and Google (GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai has everything reportedly spoken to Trump in recent weeks or months.

“Every day, somewhere, an Amazon executive or Blue Origin executive or someone from the other philanthropies and companies I own or invest in is meeting with government officials,” Bezos wrote. “You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against harassment, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests. Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other.”

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