but when bezos' lawyer heard it over the phone as cadaver, bezos looked for other options.the slightly ominous relentless.com. >> too this day if you type it in it forwards to amazon.com and some would argue relentless is more a more fitting name for the organization. >> in 1994 while rifling through the a section of the dictionary, bezos got to "amazon" and stopped. the earth's longest river seemed the perfect symbol for what bezos envisioned as the world's biggest bookstore. bezos launched amazon.com online july 16, 1995. >> a lot of people were thinking at the time that e commerce was a very small channel in the adoption of it from a customer standpoint would be, you know, slow and fairly minimal. >> i had my questions about the business model and, you know, how viable was it. >> within 30 days and with no advertising other than word of mouth amazon.com had sold books in all 50 states and 45 countries catching jeff and mackenzie completely off guard. >> amazon at the beginning had no inventory. once he got an order he would contact the book distributor and have them ship

trump has been critical of bezos.mazon has a close relationship with the nsa, fbi and other agencies. we will talk more about that and more. stay with us. amy: this is america by childish gambino who became the first ever to take on record of the year and song of the year. it was the first ever rarap song to wing. he also won for best music video. this is democracy now. i am amy goodman. glenn greenwald, pulitzer prize-winning journalist and one of the founding editors of the intercept. his latest article is headlined "jeff bezos protests the invasion of his privacy, as amazon builds a sprawling surveillance state for everyone else". let's take it from there. talk about this sprawling surveillance state. and his relationship with the national security state. of his sleigh, as a result of the snowdon reporting, attention -- obviously, as a result of the snowdon reporting, attention was s surveillance agencies in the u.s. and their partners in the u.k. and less attention was paid as part of that story to the private cor

you know, he uses that, bezos, who has bigger problems than anybody right now, but bezos uses that asis lobbyist, okay? as far as i'm concerned. >> and yet, white house principle deputy press secretary says he wasn't sure if the president was even aware of this dispute between bezos and ami or the "national enquirer." likely? >> well, we know that trump is paying attention to the divorce proceedings because on the day bezos announced his divorce, trump said what is going to be a buttesy. trump is always interested in billionaires getting divorced and all of the financial consequences. so i would suspect trump is paying attention to this. bezos is on his informal enemies list. he called him bozo last month. so trump is interested in these subjects for sure. >> and let's talk about the other thing brian mentioned in his piece and that is the immunity deal between david pecker and ami and the southern district of new york. federal prosecutors, why risk it? >> that's where this story is going now. why risk it? i think for the same people, the same reason people run red light, you know, th

bezos has. it's led to severe tragedies for the idea being, i'll be humiliated, i'll be shamed and -- that bigger narrative is perhaps an important one. >> scott, you tweeted -- yes? >> just a quick point on that. it would be enough this drama between jeff bezos and david pecker over the question of extortion and blackmail, but to me that's the secondary story. the bigger story is what bezos insin yates in that post when he effectively suggests that president trump and/or saudi arabia might be behind the political motivation for going after bezos because they don't like the coverage that they've been receiving by his paper, "the washington post." now that's an insinuation, it's not an allegation. there is going to be a sort of greater focus now on what those connections are and, in fact, earlier today, former cia director john brennan gave us a statement which said effectively, i have no doubt that saudi arabia would want to embarrass jeff bezos and hurt him financially. i think that is where th

it could be that someone has broken into jeff bezos' phone or jeff bezos' partner's phone.t could be civil as somebody sent a text or showed the phone to somebody else and that person send it to "the national enquirer." eva: absolutely. they pass it right along and uf no control of where it goes. emily: what you think of it possible president trump side of the story? bezos name drops trump, the saudi government. where is this going? tim: he is not name dropping without reason. david pecker, publisher of "the national enquirer," is a longtime friend of president trump. we know from the new york attorney's office in the southern district of new york that david pecker, michael cohen, and trump himself conspired to have "the national enquirer" their information about trump's relationships with a porn star and playmate, and that they had a long-standing history of doing that for trump, and that the national enquirer was an advocate for trump during the 2016 campaign. there is a long relationship there. i think it would be logical for bezos to wonder why when he is kind of a batt

so, listen, this was a bold move by bezos.u think david pecker and his attorneys, do you think they're surprised, you think they're worried? >> i -- i think that they're -- i think -- i think that they thought they were smarter than they are, and i think now the reality is hitting them and they're freaking out. >> really? go on. do you think -- could bezos end up owning the whole thing? suing them? >> it -- i think it's possible. i mean, the techniques they used are nothing short of extortion. it is -- it is -- it is the reco act. i mean, they've -- this looks like a crime. >> why would -- there are other aspects i want to get -- why would someone who constantly calls out the alleged misdeeds of others, even often wrongly calls them out when many people think it's just projection, and i'm speaking of donald trump, why would he be associated with someone like david pecker who, in your estimation, says uses -- uses, you know, actions that are akin to extortion and the reco act. >> because i think he finds it irresistible. i thin

and jeff bezos decided to declare war. howie: and chets is saying the bezos security team didn't stop the affair. isn't it up to the couple to decide how public they want to be? jessica: you would think two consenting adults have decision-making skills of their own. we were talking about how much bezos would be making in the divorce. jeff bezos was saying things like i can't wait to see you and kiss you. we don't know yet how these pictures got there. so the analysis i have read so far who worked in vip security. they are look at lauren sanchez's phone as the one that would have been hacked or the leak would have come from. ronan farrow, terry cruz, the daily beast says am issued the same tactics were used against them by a.m.i. and it's something the media should be discussing. howie: when say there was involvement in the hush money payment. jessica: over the affair with playboy play mates didn't make it. howie: a.m.i. said this was a negotiation about naked pictures, not blackmail. they said the source to his was close t

he is jeff bezos. >> yeah.er to ami as the former ami, because i you know -- if they want to get into, well, they did want to get into this sort of match with jeff bezos, it's very clear to me who's going to win this. it's extraordinary the way he published the e-mails that he got from ami, and they are, they certainly look extortionate to me. either you stop looking into us and our political motivations or we be pubbish the following things and he has this and has that, and he published all of that. there was, as you said, jeff bezos is not around the "washington post" every day. been there -- a bunch of times, but he lives in seattle, does his day job and leaves the journalism to the journalists. there was time he came to an all-staff meeting and he was talking about the "post." actually versus the "new york times" and other papers. he said, there's a certain amount of badassness about the "washington post" he really liked and he wanted to keep. there is a certain amount of badassness about jeff bezos that ma

we'll get to bezos in a minute.story. >> a mind blow. >>> we start with the acting attorney general, matthew whitaker, he has decided that he will testify today before the house judiciary committee. the announcement came after days of contentious wrangling as whitaker threatened not to show up you can the committee promised not to subpoena him. the faceoff a prime example of democrats asserting their new control of the house for oversight of the trump administration. >> democrats vowing to press whitaker on two subjects, first his decision not it rekis himself from overseeing robert mueller's russia investigation despite his past public criticism of the probe and second his conversations with the president about the russia investigation. the president recently told the "daily caller" there have been no such conversations. yesterday the president was asked whether he thought whitaker should testify. >> he is an outstanding person. i would say if he did testify, he'd do very well. he is an outstanding person. very, ve

and jeff bezos said no more. he became the richest man in the world because 24 years ago he had an idea that became amazon. he is now the owner of the washington post and tonight jeff bezos did the bravest thing you can possibly do when confronted by people who have stolen digital communication. instead of surrendering to what he now calls their attempts at extortion and blackmail, jeff bezos has published a letter, a statement, in which he details what has been stolen from him, the embarrassing material that's been stolen from him. and in the process, he condemns the "national enquirer" for its gangster-like approach to him and to their coverage in general. jeff bezos published a statement tonight in which he said, rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, i've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten. attached to his statement were a series of written exchanges between people working from "national enquirer" and a los angeles attorney. dill

perhaps save the marriage of jeff bezos to mckenzie. >> wow. thank you so much for can coming on with us and helping us unfold all of this. thank you. now i want to bring in corporate communications strategist, a former spokesperson for ami, parent company of "the national enquirer. "this is a lot. the idea of "the national enquirer" putting in writing -- emails where they appear to be spelling out if you don't back off of your investigation, here are the detailed photos and describing them that we will publish about you. is that something that went on when you were involved with ami? >> i am usually the one called in to mop up those messes as a pr purseen but it doesn't surprise me because they are bullies. a tabloid by nature is not your home grown paper. it's salacious. they sell copies. they base their whole reputation on and they do pay for tips. no idea how they got the photos or text messages but photos can be submitted and they can buy them. that seemed to be a procedure when hot photos are out there. >> and kwun of the things that bezo

in his post yesterday, bezos suggests pecker's tarabia calle. reasons to be better understood, the saudi angle seems the hit a sensitive nerve, he wrote. he brought one of saudi crown prince's advisors to an oval meeting with president trump while pecker, quote, was considering expanding his media and events business into saudi arabia. last year pecker also published a 97-page progressed spread praisi oncluded ordered the butchering of jamal khashoggi last year. he's guilty. the crown prince did it. the white house remains the lone defender of the crown prince after refusing to meet today's deadline set by congress to determine if the saudis were responsible for khashoggi's murder and butchering. i'm joined by gregory mix. congressman thank you for coming on this friday. this story has how many twists and turns, but the idea of ami, "the national enquirer" its owner david pecker and having some alliance with khashoggi's crowd, the crown prince's crowd is really disturbing. when you think why would it come to this based on making money, what othe

this post from jeff bezos, wow. unbelievable. what are you learning about this allegations against the "national enquirer"? >> pretty substantial here, don, really, you know, it was extraordinary in the way jeff bezos did this putting this all out there for everyone to see certainly admitting this was going to be embarrassing for him but he needed to do it because he says what the "national enquirer" and executives were trying to do was blackmail him, extort and essentially it was to try to prevent the "washington post" from working on a story, an investigation, into the "national enquirer," they've been working on an investigation. a couple of things these e-mails indicate and what bezos' released from the "national enquirer" is i guess the "washington post" was going to say some of these stories that the "national enquirer" has been working on were political motivated, influenced by political views and decisions and it seems that ami was trying to get the "washington post" from not publishing some of this. from not saying that

a.m.i., according to bezos, then goes about to demand that bezos affirmatively say publicly that he, quote, has no knowledge or basis for suggesting that a.m.i.'s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces. and unless bezos says that they will publish these embarrassing photos of him that they have obtained. so like i said, everything happens at once, right? but the bottom line here is that, like, jeff bezos, the richest man on the face of the earth, the guy who owns "the washington post," has just blown this up by publishing what he says is this extortionate, threatening, blackmailing panic button stuff from "the national enquirer" and a.m.i. don't you say that what we're doing is politically motivated. don't you say that this has any political intention. don't you say that we did this for any reason other than just embarrassing you. don't you say that this comes from a political place or we will drop this nuclear bomb on you. whoa. why? i should tell you that a.m.i. declined to comment tonight, since mr. bezos has made public what he says is their correspo

bezos."avid pecker says the company will conduct an internal investigation into what, if any, action needs to be taken. and to up the ante, federal prosecutors are now looking into the "national enquirer's" handling of the bezos affair. as for how the intimate photos were leaked in the first place, a reporter for "the washington post" says he has spoken with bezos' lead security consultant. watch. >> gavin debecker told us that he does not believe that jeff bezos's phone was hacked. he think it's possible that a government entity might have gotten ahold of his text messages. >> earlier, gavin debecker, the security consultant, said publicly he thought the brother of bezos' mistress lauren sanchez played a role in leaking those private photos and texts. tucker. >> tucker: mr. muster with a candle stick. trace, thank you very much. so a lot of confusing parts about this story. one t thing that is crystal clear is where the media stands. journalists love jeff bezos. now some of them literally wo

bezos on other.s points out in his letter which was interestingly on medium.com, not on the "washington post" website, pointing out that is another motivation here. >> i was with jamal's editor last night and they are not letting go of gentlemjamal's ca. they're leading the charge for justice against saudi arabia and that means they have the support of jeff bezos. so if you can get to bezos, and it's a little bit murky here and he says in his letter the saudi angle is not fully explained yet. if you can get to bezos and hush bezos, then you maybe able to hush some of the challenging of saudi arabia. >> there's so many bread crumbs in this long post by jeff bezos that he wants people to ask about. whether or not substantiated or not, he wants people to ask about the saudi connection, he wants people to look into the political connection although it's in writing about ami, say it isn't political else we'll post naked pictures of you, that's remarkable. it's so threatening for them to have this be polit

i guess bezos believes the enquirer obtained them how? what was the naich or nature of investigation? >> where things get sticky some of the public statements made by jeff bezos' security consultant. he's suggested a possible political motivation and the reason is the national enquirer has had a history of doing things that there help fool president donald trump and theory that potentially those text messages could have been published by the national enquirer as some way of getting back at jeff bezos for his ownership of the "washington post" were floated by his security consultant and also not as floated privately but discussed publicly and that is clearly bothered the national enquirer in their responses to us when with we began doing our reporting, they vehementally denied that and they seem to continue to dethat in their correspondence directly with bezos. >> and the implication that the enquirer wanted to intimidate baize oesz into influencing the reporting in donald trump's favor or they just wanted him to stop looking into his acus

listen to him when he's asked about bezos' divorce. >> do you have any reaction to jeff bezos's divorce luck. i wish him luck. it's going to be a beauty. >> okay, can i ask you a question here. if president trump's hands in any way end up linked to this and jeff bezos is obviously making it clear that he thinks they could be, what does it mean? >> there could be all sorts of things. is he part of an extortion scheme involving these e-mails? is he going to use the photos to try to obtain more favorable coverage from "the washington post"? >> and are these e-mails extortion in your view? it's again a very detailed list but i won't publish them unless you say this. >> it doesn't look like a normal business negotiation which is what the usual defense is when someone says extortion and you say, no, no, this was business, we wanted something, they wanted something. but that's not how normal business is conducted. did the president play a part in obtaining the images? did they come to him from a supporter somehow connected to the woman having an affair with him. i don't want to speculate. >> t

>> a source is telling us people on the bezos size believe is michael sanchez, the brother of bezos'sriend could be the person who gave those intimate and personal emails to them. gavin debecker has told the "washington post" and daily beast has looked at sanchez and questioned him. he's not provided cnn with an on the record response but the "washington post" previously reported he denied any role in his sister's affair. >> thanks very much. >>> we have more breaking news as the virginia lieutenant governor is denying a second claim of sexual assault, let's go to ryan nobles. >> at that time they took a wait-and-see attitude to those allegations, calling for an investigation but not quickly calling for the lieutenant governor to step down. now a second woman claim the lieutenant governor raped her during college. he says she's not telling the truth and he has no plans to resign. we're learning that a democratic delegate from northern virginia arlington county patrick hope, i just got off the phone with him, he told me he's now drafting articles of impoovment he plans to file monday m

bezos says he is being blackmailed now. according to one of the e-mails, the "national enquirer" chief kept officer said if he did not drop the investigation, the magazine might publish more pho other things. in another e-mail, a lawyer for the "national enquirer's" parent company suggested and agreement in which bezos or a spokesperson would say they have no evidence politics was at play. bezos said he would not capitulate to extortion, he chose instead to publish all the messages online on and they are quite extraordinary. it will be interesting to see how this plays out moving forward. we reached out to the "national enquirer," but they have not responded to our requests for comment. christine, dave. >> tts justit is a remarkable s. thank you for that. >>> the supreme court taking a big step on the hottest of hot-button issues, the justices blocking a restrictive abortion law for taking effect at least for now. the decision split 5-4. chief justice job are not bejoh roberts joining the four liberals. the 2014 law would r

bezos uses that as hislobby iis. >> reporter: bezos writes, if in my position i can't stand up to this kind oextortion, how many people can? of the enquirer's threat, bezos adds that got my attention but not in the way they likely hoped. >>> david pecker entered into an immunity deal with federal prosecutors looking into the alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign. if s threat is found to be a criminal act, that deal with prosecutor could be in jeopardy. >> a lot of moving pieces, thank you. >>> we're joineda by c swisher, the executive editor of recode and a "new york times" ri cotor. she's coveredzo jeff extensively. last night you see the bombshell that landed from jeff bezos. was this a stunner to you? >> in a lot of ways it isn't. he's been pretty quiet, especially onhe trump attacks on him. this was a real response i thin >> it was. if it's jeff bezos versus the "national enquirer," are those two -- is that like a fht made in heaven. have both met theirtc s? >> i feel sorry for the "national enquirer." that's what have to say about that. this is as

but bezos uses that as his lobbyist. okay? as far as i'm concerned. >> reporter: about the enquirer bezos writes ux if in my position i can't stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? peter alexander, nbc news. >>> watching the markets on this friday midday. u.s. stocks fell for the third straight day on friday as skepticism of the united states and china reaching a trade deal been the deadline certainly adding to concerns of a global growth. right now markets down. dow jones industrial average down about 144 points. >>> there will be no environmental review to replace the border barrier in san diego. the trump administration is waving that process, the sixth such waver in the trump president si. 2005 law gives the homeland security secretary the authority to wave laws coming to building border barriers. work can begin to replace up to 14 miles of the border barrier which is a steel mesh wall in san diego. >>> well, happening this weekend, a chance to learn about an important event in bay area black history. >>

bezos shares several e-mails, one reportedly from ami's chief content officer to the attorney for bezospart. quote, with "the washington post" poised to publish unsubstantiated rumor, the "national enquirer's" report, i wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our news gathering. in addition to below the belt selfie, otherwise colloquially known as a -- i don't know if i should say that as a blank pick, the enquirer obtained a further nine images. and the e-mail goes on to share details of those racy photos you would say, including some selfies. we'll leave it at that. they have -- the claim of blackmail and extortion is based on that. joining me for more on that is cnn media correspondent brian stelter. back with us is jeffrey toobin and joining us is cnn chief political analyst gloria borger. bezos calling this blackmail and extortion. they essentially sent him a letter or his attorneys a letter saying we -- these are the photos we have. it's clearly -- it's going to be embarrassing. we won't publish them if you make a statement saying that there's nothing to do between th

the tabloid claimed it ended bezos' 25-year marriage. wanting to know how "the enquirer" got the intimate messages, the amazon boss says he opened his own private investigation. that's when "the enquirer" and its parent company, ami, threatened to publish more intimate photos unless that investigation was dropped. according shared what he says are their e-mails. one message described ten compromising images including one below the belt selfie of bezos. nbc news has not independently reviewed the e-mails. the ceo writing, of course i don't want personal photos published, but i also -kno practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption. i preferst crawls out. bezos says ami wanted him to publicly state that "the enquirer's" article about his personal life was not politically motivated. his blog suggests it was. noting david pecker's loyalty to president trump. >> for a very long time, david pecker was a friend of trump because he caught and killed stories. because he kept stories that reflected negatively on trump

let's covered jeff bezos extensively. you see a bombshell from jeff bezos. was this a stunner? >> in a lot of ways it wasn't. he's like this. he's been quiet around the trump attacks and has at any time responded much. this was a real response, i think. >> it was. is that a fight made in heaven? have both met their matches? >> oh i feel sorry for the "national enquirer." that's what i have to say about that. this is an astonishing thing for the world's richest man and a prominent ceo of one of the most valuable companies to do. this is almost a trillion dollars company. it's just an astonishing thing for him to go out on a limb like this and use the internet to communicate something that most ceos wouldn't do. it's quite a bold move on his part. i'm trying not to use metaphors here because it's such a problematic story on so many levels. you're talking about, you know, body parts. >> right, i know, we're trying to keep -- >> i thought i'd never do, i never wanted to take about jeff bezos's nether regions in my life but here i am. >> we didn't either. >> pulitzers, everybody. >>

we have an allegation of the extortion with bezos. now there is an allegation out there that they did the same thing with ronan farrow and now the daily beast as well. so it is cascading and the problems are getting bigger and bigger every day and when the southern district of new york opens up the investigation, they'll look at everything. they're very thorough. they are very tough. they are very good. and that is is what they're facing. >> and then the whole other facet, the saudi arabia angle. mark i want to talk to you about this. bezos wrote about the article about the crown prince and there is the link to jamal khashoggi and so help us here with those dots. >> this is part of the bezos theory of the case where they argue that the reason "the national enquirer" did the -- what they see as a hit job on jeff bezos by exposing his affair was because of this connection with the saudis, the president having a good relationship with the saudi leader and "the national enquirer" have an enormous debt, more than $800 million so the bezos

it if we're not jeff bezos.'m a different jeff entirely and i agree with my fellow guest, it was indiscreet and foolish, but you know what the leaders of universities and the leaders of churches and the leaders of government agencies and all kinds of governments and corporations are human beings and they're subject to human frailty and do stupid things how we judge somebody is how do they respond and of course, what's the magnitude of what he did? he didn't in these other examples, not travis promoting the bro culture in the old days of uber, this is not dove wearing nothing but a sock and not on his foot, by the way, at american apparel this is not les moonves scandal at cbs or the indiscretions of elon musk with his nasty insulting twitters out there with misleading information to investors. this was a private communication. it's hard to imagine that jeff bezos, who is so much the face and image, his name is hyphenated with amazon, he's actually a really private guy. i've been with him many times and partially

published an investigation bezos that included intimate text messages bezos said he hired investigators to figure out how those text messages were obtained in response bezos says ami threatened to publish more text messages and photos if bezos did not drop his investigation. ami declined to comment. a lot of drama here. brian. >> it really is. frank, certainly a lot of drama, and, of course, we're going to have more on the story coming up, including how even the non-business media is covering the story right now. now to trade or perhaps not trade. president trump saying he will pass on meeting with chinese president xi jing ping all before next positive month's major tread deadline whether a new harsher round of tariffs could kick in. let's get to eunice, who is live in beijing with more eunice >> thanks so much. well, you know, next week could be a critical week in the u.s.-china trade talks after next week there are only two weeks to the deadline. much of that is going to be taken up by the trump kim summit president trump has already confirmed that he is not going to be meeting with

s live from blackmail politics in the world so richest man it's a heavy brewer's amazon boss jeff bezos accuses american tabloid the national enquirer of blackmail he says the paper threatened to publish your enforcers of him but he did do. so on the program. just disaster strikes one of brazil's first famous for such a. terrific. rio de janeiro's flamengo at least ten times to death. row taking on thailand's military princess. overturns complexion and announcing she will stand for prime minister but the king says the move is unconstitutional. i'm phil girl welcome to the program i'm a zone boss jeff bezos has accused the national enquirer newspaper of blackmail he says the u.s. capitol she threatened to publish intimate photos of him unless he did as he was told inquirer says it will investigate the claims but there are also political overtones mr bezos of the washington post which is often criticized president trump the national enquirer zona meanwhile is a fervent trump supporter. to prove a tabloid scandal or a politically motivated attack jeff bezos has accused the publisher link t

amazon founder jeff bezos..ng the national enquirer's publisher of blackmail and extortion tonight. and he says he has the emails to prove it. here's reporter tom wait. pkg: (sot alexandra kazarian - i was surprised an attorney would put something like that on paper) legal analyst alexandra kazarian reacting to threats from the national enquirer against amazon founder jeff bezos. tonight in a bombshell blog post bezos posted emails he received from ami - the owner of the national enquirer - where the enquirer told bezos to back off criticism of ami - or they would publish intimate pictures they allegedly obtained of bezos. (sot - anytime you are withholding information that could hurt somebody's reputation - in order to get somebody to do something, whether it's give you money or something that you want them to do in exchange for not releasing it, that's extortion and that s not legal.) this saga began when the national enquirer recently ran a story alleging that bezos was having an affair with t-v anchor lauren

bezos. you know his name.al weapon. >> he uses the "washington post" as his power tool. >> the "washington post," that's basically the lobbyist for amazon. he's got bigger problems than anybody. but he uses that as his lobbyist as far as i'm concerned. >> so it may be no quince against the "national enquirer" breaks the story about jeff bezos having an affair. a story that trump quickly celebrates. so story to hear the news about jeff bozo being taken down, whose reporting is far more accurate than in his newspaper, the amazon "washington post" lt here's where saudi arabia comes back in. last night bezos posted for the world to see how the "national enquirer" threatened to publish hacked members. they will wrongly conclude i am their end me. president trump is one of those people, obvious by his many tweets. the post, essential and unreelementing columnist by jamal khashoggi is undoubtly unpopular in certain circles. like that one, president trump, who has posted the prince at the white house. who took his fir

bezos himself.t want personal photos published but i also don't want to participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks and corruption. that is essentially the world's richest man saying i've got the money to fight this, and i'm fighting this. to hell. what do you look for when you trade? i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale. mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. no hidden fees. no platform fees. no trade minimums. and yes, it's all at one low price. td ameritrade. ♪ the latest inisn't just a store.ty it's a save more with a new kind of wireless network store. it's a look what your wifi can do now store. a get your questions answered by awe

bezos' phone. hack the phone. that was a particularly bizarre quote. >> this is a story you're running tonight? >> this is a story we already ran. today we're looking into what i think a well-known history of ami of using things like extortion and blackmail to get these types of stories. it is crazy that we finally are getting a clear view of it, thanks to jeff bezos actually posting about it. but he's not the only victim of this. >> was mike flynn targeted for blackmail and jeff bezos not? no more excuses with cologuard. we all make excuses for the things we don't want to do. but when it comes to colon cancer screening... i'm not doin' that. i eat plenty of kale. ahem, as i was saying... ...with cologuard, you don't need an excuse... all that prep? no thanks. that drink tastes horrible! but...there's no prep with cologuard... i can't take the time off work. who has two days? and i feel fine - no symptoms! everybody, listen! all you need is a trip to the bathroom. if you're 50 or older and at avera

jeff bezos takes on the national enquirer. attorney general grilled by lawmakers over what was discussed with the president about the russia probe. >> i have nointerfered in any with the special counsel's investigation. jane: and john dingell, the longest-serving member of congre, has died at the age of 92. tributes are pouring in. ♪ jane: welcome to our viewers on and around thion world. the world's richest man jeff bezos is accusing the publisher of the national enquirer, a tabloid, of extortion and blackmail. the founder of amazon released a hetter from the magazine's owners, demandintop an investigation into how they obtained messages between him and his mistress. jeff bezos said the magazine threatened to publish graphic photos and more intimate details if he didn'not comply. ouh america editor jon sopel reports. jon: when the celebrity mag "national enquirer" published photos between the owner of azon jeff bezos and his lover, it looked like a tabloid sting against of the world's richest man. b a yearabout $1li of amazon

bezos. >> on january 9th jeff bezos tweeted he and his wife were getting a divorce. it was amicable. everything was signed, sealed and delivered nothing to see, nothing to bother. fast forward today the divorce hasn't been filed. getting incredibly complicated we don't know what will happen to the 16% shares he and his wife own together. she's entitled to half secondly you can argue this is not going huge distraction for jeff bezos you can't argue he's not critical on a day-to-day basis to this company. i'm surprised the shares aren't down more. >> down 2.5% if he pursues this case against "national enquirer" does he have one? >> it's going to be a huge distraction for ami. look, it's difficult to prove extortion in a criminal setting. there's a reason why you hire lawyers to break your legs, right? partially because what you and i think of as extortion is not really the legal standard. if a lawyer says pay me a million dollars or else i'll tell everything i know that's like lawyer foreplay pay me a million dollars and i'll kill your dog, now that's getting into -- >

. >> called jeff bezos jeff bozo.o the president is thrilled of this. and not a big fan of "washington post" and by extension not a big fan of jeff bezos. >> all journalism is not aimed at getting the story out. some of this so-called journalism is we'll get dirt and sell you the secrecy. we'll get rid of it if you pay us. that is blackmail but they call it catch and kill. your thoughts. >> yes, to dwhoet illustrious omar little, when you come at the king, you best not miss. he's basically calling out ami in the traditional sense of how they do journalism at "the national enquirer." it's let me pay you for the rights of your life story. let me extort you for money so i don't run nasty things about you. but frankly, is it really extortion? there's a federal crime defined by basically threatening to expose somebody in eexchange for something of value. you give me money i won't run the story. but there idea that inyou admit there was ant political angle to the story, would you basically be giving something of value. and

so bezos turned around and published all of their emails. the emails claim the photos include a shirtless mr. bezos wearing his wedding ring and either tight black cargo pants or shorts, and his semi-erect manhood is penetrating the zipper of said garment. okay, that's pretty bad. i would not want a photo of me out there wearing cargo shorts. ( laughter ) they also threatened to release "a selfie of mr. bezos fully clothed." wait, how is that blackmail material? is he wearing a shirt covered in pictures of his penis? ( laughter ) the enquirer threatened to publish the pictures unless bezos publicly stated that the previous story and pictures and texts were not politically motivated. but bezos wasn't having it. in his blog post, he writes, "well, that got my attention. but not in the way they likely hoped." which is exactly how people feel when they get a dick pic. ( laughter ) you have my attention. i'm calling the police. bezos suspects the blackmail was political, because he owns one of trump's most hated newspapers, the "washington post."

because basically mckenzie bezos could be the second or just as much of a shareholder as jeff bezos ishere an agreement where the economic value of those shares can be exchanged for the voting stakes in those shares amazon doesn't have super voting shares i think that's interesting to think about. i think it's unlikely that the shares are sold to the open market not in her best interest either. >> it is a question, tom cnbc crunched the numbers finding that the stock down 5% since the divorce over that period the market is up 5% is this an issue for amazon shareholders >> sure. here are the three reasons i don't see it as an issue for shareholders of amazon number one and most importantly, hopefully by now they have the trust of mr. bezos to the extent that he's succeeding in converting his vision and they have been well rewarded for backing him for all these years. number two, hopefully at the minimum they have come to the terms he owns "the washington post" and is an advocate of free post and as owner draw it is ire of president trump and can be a challenge. i think about how as you

bezos published e-mails that reveals how he threatened to publish photos of bezos unless he publicly backed down. first they wanted bezos to say the tabloid coverage was not politically motivated. why did they care? we'll get into that. he want themd ed to end how the obtained private messages. certain powerful people who experience washington post news coverage will wrongly included on their enemy, president trump is one of those people. trump did seize on that national enquirer story about bezos divorce writing so sorry to hear the news about jeff bezos being taken down by a competitor whose reporting is far more accurate than in his lobbyist newspaper. hopefully the paper will be placed in better and more responsible hands. that's a lot. today the white house laying low. >> is the president aware of the bezos situation? what is the white house reaction? >> i'm not sure if he's aware of it. we're not going to get into a situation of something between jeff bezos and tabloids magazine. >> bezos reporting after president trump became president he rewarded mr. pecker's loyal ty in whic

and according to bezos, there is a saudi connection here. ami chief executive david pecker reportedly brought a guest with ties to saudi royalty to a dinner at the white house in 2017, later publishing a glossy magazine saluting the brutally repressive kingdom. bezos writes, it's unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience "washington post" news coverage will wrongly conclude i am their enemy. president trump is one of those people. obvioused by his many tweets. also, "the post's" essential and unrelenting coverage of its journalist, jamal khashoggi, is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles. all of this after david pecker made an immunity deal with federal prosecutors in august for providing information about the hush money payments to two women during the 2016 campaign. and let's not forget, there's one very big fan of the enquirer. >> i've always said, why didn't the "national enquirer" get the pulitzer prize for edwards and o.j. simpson and all of these things? >> all of this is -- i know, right? there's always a tweet and

he blasted bezos long time security chief.ezos is a brilliant man and who doesn't bow down to bullying most of the time. the saudi government weighed in again, denying it had anything to do with the bezos story saying it looked like a soap opera. >> julie: like a spanish soap opera. take it up another notch. all right. thank you very much, dan springer. for more on this i'm joined by a legal analyst. i don't even know where to started. the national enquirer isn't going to take this lying down, no pun intended, jeff bezos. they had to slap back. they are saying they are not guilty of extortion. that they did not blackmail jeff bezos. you seem to agree. >> i do agree with that. let's start by saying i don't think the white house cares one iota about jeff bezos junk, for starters. number one. number two, who's the bully here? when you read jeff bezos job that he was going to punch national enquirer in the nose, that's what they do. they want to post it. it probably would have quietly gone away, more quiet than it is now, without