Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos donated $10 million to a super PAC focused on electing military veterans to Congress, marking his first major political donation, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Bezos and his wife contributed to With Honor, a relatively new organization that supports Democratic and Republican candidates, according to the Journal, which added that the organization is backing 33 House candidates in the current election cycle, including 19 Democrats and 14 Republicans.
“[The Bezoses] perceive themselves to be pretty nonpartisan. The idea of doing something different and disruptive appealed to them, along with our focus on values and integrity in our national discourse,” Rye Barcott, the founder of With Honor, told the newspaper.
ADVERTISEMENT
The super PAC donation is by far Bezos’s largest political contribution to date. The Wall Street Journal reported that he has donated $31,000 to Democrats since 2007, and $21,600 to Republicans in the same time frame.
Bezos and his companies have been a frequent target of President TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE. The president has inaccurately claimed the Post is a “registered lobbyist,” and repeatedly derided the newspaper as “fake news.”
The newspaper has maintained Bezos does not play a role in editorial decisions.
Trump has also blasted Amazon, claiming that the company financially hurts the U.S. Postal Service because it gets reduced shipping rates. The president doubled down on his claim despite some fact-checkers saying that while the Postal Service is having problems, it is not because of Amazon.
Amazon briefly exceeded $1 trillion in value on Tuesday, becoming the second U.S. corporation to reach that threshold.