Jeff Bezos calls Trump more 'mature' and disciplined in second term compared to his first
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said Wednesday that President Donald Trump was more "mature" and disciplined in his second term during an interview with CNBC.
"I’m comparing him to his first term, and I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term. Again, I’ve worked with all the presidents, I will work with all the presidents, you know, and I hope to do that going forward if they’ll have me, but we need our business leaders to provide input into the administration, regardless of who the president is," Bezos told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Bezos argued he was on America's side and said he worked with past presidents as well and would continue to do so.
"I’m on the side of America, and that is so important. Like, and that’s where business leaders should be," he told Sorkin. "I think we are, but we get perceived as being like, you know, partisan or whatever. Like, I was helping [Barack] Obama every chance I could. I was helping [Joe] Biden every chance I could. I still call Obama for advice. He’s a very smart guy."
The Amazon founder went on to say that Trump had good ideas and deserved credit where credit is due.
At the start of Trump's term, Bezos said during an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" that Trump had mellowed and seemed calmer.
Bezos was also pressed on Amazon's "Melania" documentary about the first lady during the interview.
Sorkin asked, "There’s a view among critics that say that part of what you have done or are doing is trying to placate the president with either the sort of shift in the tone of what’s happening at The [Washington] Post or even some of the things at Amazon, the decision to make the documentary around Melania, for example."
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"Yes, the Melania thing is a falsehood that will not die. So, you know, I see it reported all the time that somehow I was involved in this," he said. "It’s not true. We have denied it. Melania’s office has denied it, it’s not true. I had nothing to do with that. By the way, it appears it was a good business decision. You know, it did very well in theaters, it has done very well on streaming. People are very curious about Melania. So, even though I had to do nothing with it, you know, it appears that the Amazon team made a very wise business decision."
He also told Sorkin that he had nothing to do with the hit movie "Project Hail Mary," which he also said was a good business decision.
"Amazon’s a big company, it makes a lot of decisions, but no, this idea that somehow that is a way of buying influence, it’s just not correct," he said.
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The "Melania" documentary debuted at the top of Amazon Prime's streaming charts after premiering in March.
The documentary follows 20 days in Melania Trump's life just before her husband's second term in office. It hit the streaming service Monday.
"Melania" became the most-streamed film on the platform and the most-streamed content overall in the United States just one day after its streaming premiere, according to Flix Patrol and as Fox News Digital previously reported.