Transcript for Clash between Amazon CEO and the National Enquirer continues
The battle between the world’s richest man and America’s biggest tabloid newspaper. Jeff bezos accusing “The national enquirer” of extortion and blackmail over compromising photos but in an exc interview with ABC news a lawyer for the paper says they acted in pursuit of a legitimate news story and said the photos were provided by a longtime source. Here’s ABC’s Lana Zak. Reporter: Tonight, the attorney for David pecker, H of Ami, is denying that his client’s tabloid, “The national enquirer,” tried to blackmail Jeff bezos with salacious photos of the billionaire and his alleged mistress Lauren Sanchez. It absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail. What happened was the story was given to “The national enquirer” by a reliable source that had given information to “The national enquirer” for seven years. Reporter: But according to bezos, the tabloid threatened to publish naked photos unls the Amazon founder issued what he cae public statement” about Ami’s reporting not being “Politically motivated.” And stopped his own investigation into who revealed the details of his private life.” And stopped his own personal vestigation into who revealed the details of his private life. I’m not permitted to tell you or confirm or deny who the source is. I can tell you it’s not Saudi Arabia. It’s not president trump. It was a source that was well known to both Mr. Bezos and miss Sanchez. Reporter: According to the paper owned by bezos, “The Washington post,” the billionaire suspected the brother of his called mistress, Michael Sanchez, a supporter of president trump, could be the source. According to the paper, Sanchez who firmly denies any role in the revelation reportedly claims was told by multiple people at Ami that “The national quirer” set out to do a, quote, take down to make trump happy. Ami denying that any of this was related to president trump. Federal prosecutors are now investigating if the tabloid violated an immunity deal made after feds looked into possible campaign finance violations that involved “The enquirer” killing stories potentially damaging to Mr. Trump just before the election. Are you worried at all that these revelations have put the cooperation agreement of Mr. Pecker with thuthern district in jeopardy? Absolutely not. And Lana Zak joins us live. As federal prosecutors, you just heard their review of “The national enquirer” broke its immunity deal and committed a crime, others have since come forward alleging similar tactics? Reporter: After bezos published his allegations, at least four others claimed they had also been threatened by the tabloid. But the attorney in today’s interview says that he has no knowledge of those allegations or of any Ami employees trying to blackmail anyone. Tom. Lana Zak with those new
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