Roger Stone denies hacking Jeff Bezos' phone even though no one asked if he did

Jeff Bezos.
(Image credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is personally funding an investigation into how his texts ended up in the hands of the National Enquirer — and an associate of Roger Stone's is now being questioned.

The Daily Beast reports that the investigation has questioned Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos' mistress, Lauren Sanchez. Bezos' personal security consultant, Gavin de Becker, confirmed as much on the record. Equally interesting, though, is that Sanchez is an associate of numerous individuals in President Trump's orbit, including former advisers Roger Stone and Carter Page.

When reached for comment by The Daily Beast, Stone denied hacking Bezos' phone, despite not actually being asked if he had done it. When this was pointed out to him, Stone replied, “You are busted. You are not a journalist. No one believes anything you write." Stone had previously gone on InfoWars to claim he was about to be accused by The Daily Beast of hacking Bezos' phone, which, again, the publication never suggested.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Investigators are leaning toward the belief that the leaking of Bezos' texts to the Trump-friendly National Enquirer was politically motivated, the report says. Bezos owns The Washington Post and has been a frequent target of Trump's, and de Becker says "strong leads point to political motives." Documents reportedly show Sanchez discussing the Enquirer's reporting on Bezos' affair with Stone and Page after it was published. But Sanchez himself has apparently insisted to investigators that the "deep state" was probably responsible for the leak. Naturally, they have "not taken that possibility seriously."

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.