Jeff Bezos' stunning blog post accusing American Media Inc. of blackmail made several references to Saudi Arabia, suggesting it might have had a hand in the leak of his texts—and Saudi Arabia has responded by knocking the situation as a "soap opera" that it has nothing to do with. In an interview to run Sunday of CBS' Face the Nation, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir waves it off as "something between the two parties, we have nothing to do with it."
"This sounds to me like a soap opera," he continued. "Maybe some of our citizens read the National Enquirer then they're in the United States…but that's it." He added that "as far as I am aware, and I believe I would be aware," no Saudi officials have interacted with AMI or its CEO, David Pecker. In the post, Bezos at one point wrote that AMI has been investigated "for various actions they've taken on behalf of the Saudi Government." Bezos owns the Washington Post, which has persistently covered the murder of its own columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, a move that "is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles," wrote Bezos. (More Jeff Bezos stories.)