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Trump picks the 'Fake News Washington Post' as the newest target in his war against Amazon and Jeff Bezos

President Donald Trump attacked The Washington Post on Thursday, calling it the "chief lobbyist" for Amazon and critiquing a headline about his trade policy.

  • President Donald Trump continued his attacks on Amazon and its CEO on Thursday.
  • Trump attacked another of Jeff Bezos's companies in a tweet referring to The Washington Post as Amazon's "chief lobbyist."
  • Washington Post editors have said Bezos' investment in the paper is through private funds and there is no editorial connection with Amazon.
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President Donald Trump on Thursday picked a new way to go after Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, slamming a Washington Post headline about his recently announced tariffs on Chinese goods.

"The Fake News Washington Post, Amazon’s 'chief lobbyist,' has another (of many) phony headlines, 'Trump Defiant As China Adds Trade Penalties,'" Trump said. "WRONG! Should read, 'Trump Defiant as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, Will End Barriers And Massive I.P. Theft.' Typically bad reporting!"

This is not the first time Trump has sought to tie The Washington Post to Amazon. As far back as July, the president suggested The Post was being used for Amazon's gain.

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"Is Fake News Washington Post being used as a lobbyist weapon against Congress to keep Politicians from looking into Amazon no-tax monopoly?" Trump tweeted.

Bezos purchased The Post in 2013 as a private investment separate from his ownership of Amazon. Despite Trump's claim that The Post is Amazon's "chief lobbyist," there is no editorial connection between the two.

The headline Trump questioned appeared in the print edition of the newspaper.

The pivot to The Post follows a weeklong series of attacks by Trump against Amazon and Bezos. After a March 28 report from the news website Axios cited a source as saying the president was "obsessed" with the online retail giant, Trump has tweeted almost daily attacks against Amazon's tax structure, relationship with the US Postal Service, and effect on brick-and-mortar retailers.

The White House has said there is no plan to introduce a policy directed at Amazon.

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Trump's attacks did make some experts wonder whether the president was planning to block Amazon's bid for a lucrative Department of Defense contract to host the department's data on its Amazon Web Services platform. Despite the speculation, Business Insider's Hayley Peterson reported Wednesday that the department was close to offering the contract to Amazon.

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