Elkan Abramowitz, attorney for the CEO of American Media Inc – parent company to the National Enquirer – has announced that information about Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos’ extramarital affair with former news anchor and helicopter pilot Lauren Sanchez was not obtained by the tabloid from the White House.
"It was not the White House. It was not Saudi Arabia. And the libel that was going out there slamming AMI was that this was all a political hatchet job sponsored by either a foreign nation or somebody politically in this country," he said.
Abramowitz declined to confirm the identity of the source, only stating that they are not US President Donald Trump, Roger Stone or Saudi Arabia.
He also refuted claims made by Bezos about The National Enquirer allegedly trying to blackmail and extort him using compromising photographs.
"It absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail. AMI did not want to have the libel against them that this was inspired by the White House, by Saudi Arabia, by the Washington Post," Abramowitz told This Week.
READ MORE: 'Bizarre' for Bezos to Suggest Saudis Linked to Leak of Lurid Texts
The National Enquirer, which is published by American Media Inc., recently revealed a series of lurid text messages between Bezos and former news anchor and helicopter pilot Lauren Sanchez, a woman he was having an affair with prior to announcing his divorce from his wife, Mackenzie Bezos.
In response, Bezos later hired an investigator and began to suggest that the publication of his texts was a politically motivated move on account of them being leaked by The National Enquirer. AMI is owned by David Pecker, a long-time friend of US President Donald Trump, and Bezos has justified his claims by citing these ties.