Bezos says Enquirer tried extortion
Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said Thursday that he was the target of an extortion attempt by the National Enquirer, which he said threatened to publish embarrassing photos of him if he didn’t halt his investigation into how the tabloid obtained texts and photos between him and his mistress.
Mr. Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, said the Enquirer made the blackmail threat after he began looking into how the tabloid acquired text messages that revealed his relationship with Lauren Sanchez, a former TV anchor.
In a rare and revealing statement posted to the online publishing platform Medium, Mr. Bezos said the Enquirer wanted him to make a false public statement to the news media that Mr. Bezos and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage [of the affair] was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.” Mr. Bezos declined. Instead, Mr. Bezos published emails from Enquirer executives to a lawyer representing Mr. de Becker, including one in which top editor Dylan Howard appears to suggest the Enquirer would publish revealing photos of Mr. Bezos and Ms. Sanchez.
AG nomination advances
WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday along party lines to advance William Barr’s nomination to become attorney general, a procedural step that sets the stage for his confirmation vote next week before the entire Senate.
Because Republicans control the Senate, Mr. Barr is likely to be confirmed easily — though potentially without any Democratic support. At the Judiciary Committee’s hearing Thursday, all 10 Democrats voted against moving the nomination forward, and all 12 Republicans voted to advance it.
Democrats said they were particularly concerned that Mr. Barr would not specifically commit to letting the public see whatever report results from the specialcounsel investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Whitaker set to testify
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee chairman said late Thursday that a standoff with the acting attorney general had ended in an agreement for Matthew Whitaker to testify publicly Friday, setting up a potentially dramatic confrontation over President Donald Trump and the special counsel investigation into the 2016 campaign.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler tweeted Thursday evening that Mr. Whitaker “will appear tomorrow morning at 9:30 am,” capping a dramatic daylong standoff over whether Mr. Whitaker would scrap his appearance entirely over the Democrats’ threat to subpoena him.
Mr. Whitaker had said earlier Thursday that he would not appear before the committee as scheduled unless committee Democrats gave him assurances he won’t be subpoenaed.
Judge: Sears to survive
NEW YORK — A bankruptcy judge on Thursday blessed a $5.2 billion plan by Eddie Lampert, Sears’ chairman and biggest shareholder, to keep the business going.
The approval means roughly 425 stores and 45,000 jobs will be preserved.
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With a 5-4 vote, a divided Supreme Court stopped Louisiana from enforcing new regulations on abortion clinics in a test of the conservative court’s views on abortion rights.