Jeff Bezos’ investigator suspects 'a government agency' intercepted Amazon CEO's text messages

On MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell show tonight, Roig Franzia of the Washington Post said the security and legal team representing Jeff Bezos believes it's possible the leaks of the Amazon CEO's texts, with accompanying intimate photos, were politically motivated -- and that a “government entity” accessed the material.

Video below.

Washington Posts @RoigFranzia says Bezos' team thinks it's possible that the text leaks were politically motivated and that a "government entity" accessed the Bezos texts and hoo boy that's certainly something pic.twitter.com/MQuzNFbCed

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 8, 2019

It's hard to know why they make this claim, without more information. But — WOW. Lots of hoo-boy possibilities if it's true. They're not saying it's the U.S. government, and they're not saying it's a foreign government.

The internet's favorite options tonight:

• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? They know how to hack iPhones with 'Karma', right?
• Russia (FSB)?
• Israel (Mossad)?
• UK (MI-6)?
• These random ex-NSA dudes in the UAE?
• “Your Mom”?

What's the chance Trump *isn't* somehow involved in it.

Who knows.

What a news day.

Interesting tweet from three weeks ago in light of tonight’s developments. I wonder if he has more to say in the morning. https://t.co/LOqD9GmJAZ

— Paul Farhi (@farhip) February 8, 2019

Lots of questions about how his data was compromised.

Also, what kind of phone does Bezos use? Amazon's Fire phone exists, but... as Dan Nguyen points out in a tweet embedded below, he tweets from an iPhone. What kind of security would his phone software have offered or lacked?

Dear Mr Bezos,
I'm just gonna leave this here... pic.twitter.com/ggQfsWeiM0

— ryan huber (@ryanhuber) February 8, 2019

Democracy dies in dick pics

— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) February 8, 2019

Bezos' investigator Gavin de Becker does not think that Bezos' phone was hacked - instead he thinks a "government entity" might have got hold of Bezos' text messages and photos and gave them to the National Enquirer (h/t @ceciliakang) https://t.co/m2RqfP89gL

— Kim Zetter (@KimZetter) February 8, 2019

This story gets crazier and moves giant step closer to Trump according to team Bezos allegations shared with WaPo https://t.co/4Fmmq7JLUD

— CeciliaKang (@ceciliakang) February 8, 2019

The Bezos investigation’s suspicion centers on a *foreign* government’s intelligence agency, possibly Israel’s Mossad or the UK’s MI-6, according to @RoigFranzia as I understood his comments. https://t.co/o8fIC0agF3

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 8, 2019

New: Washington Post reporter just said that Bezos’ investigator suspects that “a government agency” intercepted Bezos’ text messages.

— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) February 8, 2019

If you’re trying to understand why Jeff Bezos just accused the National Enquirer of blackmail, this from me, @mffisher & @Sarahlellison will help https://t.co/mr7NCWpwdb

— Manuel Roig-Franzia (@RoigFranzia) February 8, 2019

As @RoigFranzia carefully notes in his interview, Bezos team suspects a “government entity” might have gotten the texts. Not necessarily US government.

— Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) February 8, 2019

Per a reporter at Bezos’ paper, Bezos investigators probing how the Enquirer got his texts thinks “a government agency” may have been involved. https://t.co/6E8VlovDxw

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 8, 2019

He seems to tweet from an iPhone pic.twitter.com/VgreCGm8Ja

— Dan Nguyen (@dancow) February 8, 2019

It's just that I went on a journey trying to think through what happened here pic.twitter.com/UxQHg64W9g

— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) February 8, 2019

Is AMI/National Enquirer still in compliance with its plea agreement? Seems as though the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY would have at least wanted to forbid blackmail and extortion going forward. https://t.co/ZCd9z6SWx5

— James Gleick (@JamesGleick) February 8, 2019

In light of Bezos’s claims, worth returning to this story we did at @NewYorker, breaking the news that the same Enquirer editor Bezos dealt with was also behind a secret collaboration with Harvey Weinstein to dig up dirt on accusers: https://t.co/lPJM0cPc5n pic.twitter.com/D6jxc88zDl

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) February 8, 2019

Read it now or wait five years for the Adam McKay movie. By @jimrutenberg and @KYWeise. https://t.co/KfIeInNxac

— Jim Windolf (@jimwindolf) February 8, 2019

Bezos is leaving "breadcrumbs" for people to follow about the "Saudi angle," @GloriaBorger says https://t.co/JzUPFRlDIQ pic.twitter.com/gdtuenbmfF

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 8, 2019

David Pecker: The Secretary of Compliance

— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 8, 2019

Our full write-up of Jeff Bezos' accusation of "extortion" against the National Enquirer for its threat to release intimate photos. Me with @sarahlellison and @devlinbarrett https://t.co/j92lW455Hg

— Paul Farhi (@farhip) February 8, 2019