President Trump praised billionaire Jeff Bezos over the changes he has implemented at The Washington Post, some of which have sparked internal backlash and led to accusations the tech and media executive is letting his other business interests influence his moves at the Post.
"I think it's great," Trump told conservative commentator Clay Travis during an interview aboard Air Force One over the weekend. "At length, I talked to him about it. He's a good guy. I didn't really know him in the first term. I mean, it's such a difference between now and the first time."
Bezos, Trump said, is "really trying to be more fair."
"They actually did a couple of bad articles on him," the president said of the Post newsroom. "He said, 'This is crazy, I lose a fortune running this thing and they ... you know, they're out of control.' These people are crazy. They're crazy people. They're out of control."
Bezos, one of the richest people in the world, famously killed a Post editorial backing former Vice President Kamala Harris before last fall's election and has directed the newspaper's opinion section to focus coverage on "free markets and personal freedoms," among other changes.
Some of the paper's most high-profile reporters, editors and columnists have left in recent months, with past top editors lamenting Bezos's interventions.
The Post during Trump's first term built a brand and subscriber base around aggressive coverage of the administration under the tagline "Democracy Dies in Darkness."
Bezos more recently has argued the Post, and many mainstream media organizations, have lost trust with Americans and has spoken optimistically about the president's second term.
Critics say his new approach to Trump is likely driven by concerns about damaging his other business interests, including Amazon and Blue Origin, a space company competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
