Jeff Bezos Fires Back at Trump: 'Not an Appropriate Way for a Presidential Candidate to Behave

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos fired back at Donald Trump Wednesday, saying at it was inappropriate for the presumptive Republican nominee to threaten to "go after him" on taxes because he is unhappy with campaign coverage from The Washington Post.

"That's not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave," said Bezos, who took over as owner of the Post in 2013.

"Some people would say that this is very tactical, to immunize against the media. And that none of this would happen. I still think from a cultural norms point of view, it's not the right thing to do. It erodes our free speech norms," added the billionaire, speaking at the Post's Transformers event.

The battle between the two billionaires was ignited last week. Trump, responding to a report that the Post had assigned approximately 20 reporters to look into his past, said Bezos was using the newspaper for "political purposes."

Specifically, Trump asserted that Bezos was "worried" about the possibility of a Trump administration because “because he’s got a huge antitrust problem” with Amazon and that he would “go after him.”

“So what they’re doing is – he’s using that as a political instrument to try and stop antitrust, which he thinks I believe he’s antitrust, another word’s what he’s got it’s a monopoly and he wants to make sure I don’t get in,” Trump said.

Bezos said that he remains "very, very comfortable with Amazon's practices and behaviors," including the way the company pays taxes.

The Post has also fiercely denied claims Bezos is influencing its coverage. Last week, Executive Editor Martin Barson said he was able to "say categorically" that he had "received no instructions from Jeff Bezos regarding our coverage of the presidential campaign."

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with new information.

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