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New thread: I'm posting updates and explainers about this earlier thread, below. Think of it as version 2.0.
Let me start by reminding that Bezos pointed to a Saudi connection. I want to emphasize this again - he said that AMI's David Pecker *specifically* went bonkers when he knew that investigators were looking into the Saudi connection. 
AMI didn't just ask Bezos to stop his investigation - they wanted him to publicly say that AMI had *no political motives*. The very fact that they want that is practically proof that they *did* have political motives. On behalf of whom, though?
Here's my point: I do NOT think this was done on behalf of Trump, and I think those chasing a direct Trump connection are going down the wrong alley. Trump is an enabler for sure, but my hunch is that the impetus behind this wasn't Trump, it was the Saudi regime.
Bezos's @Medium post mentions that AMI were already investigated "for various actions they’ve taken on behalf of the Saudi Government"; he also links to material about the "mystery magazine" from 2018. Lemme add a few words on that first.
The "mystery magazine" appeared on American shelves in March 2018 - it was basically 100 pages of praising MBS. An MBS promotional brochure. Here's some additional details in two tweets:
200,000 copies were distributed. There were no ads. AMI somehow sunk money to print & distribute this, but claimed the Saudis neither paid them to produce the magazine, nor directed them on its production, and that they didn't share it with the Saudis ahead of time.
However we know that at least the last of these statements is false. AP discovered that a PDF of the magazine was shared with the Saudis three weeks before it was published, who in turn shared it with their DC contacts. apnews.com/d293d282a9ec4d…
Incidentally even the State Department gave shady answers when asked about the magazine's origin. It's remarkable that reporters even had to ask the State Department if it had a role in this! thedailybeast.com/trumps-publish…
Whatever the case, shortly after the magazine incident, the NYT reported that Pecker had, the previous year, received help from Trump to woo the Saudis. The timeline they uncovered is summarized in the next two tweets.
In July 2017, Trump introduced Pecker to Kacy Grine, a Saudi-linked French businessman. In September 2017, Pecker traveled to Saudi Arabia and had a joint meeting with Grine and... MBS. By January 2018, Pecker tried to use Saudi money to buy Time magazine.
Then in March 2018, during MBS's visit to the US, Pecker was at several of the events. So what happens between January and March? Well in February, AMI created that magazine and shared it with the Saudis. In March it was published, all 200,000 copies of it.
(Btw, owning Time magazine is an old dream for Pecker, and Trump knows it. This is a Trump tweet from 2013.)
Anyway: Some have speculated that AMI is in trouble coz they didn't fully disclose to US prosecutors the deal with this magazine. But I don't think that's the case - prosecutors probably already know everything about that.
It seems more likely that AMI is in trouble because they have committed *new* crimes (rather than not fully disclosing old ones), and that the Bezos hack was politically motivated, and that the impetus behind it wasn't Trumpt - but Saudi Arabia.
The above is more than just a wild theory at this point. Earlier today, ex-CIA chief John Brennan gave this statement to MSNBC:
And this is @tribelaw from Harvard Law School weighing in.
Attempting to extort a thing of value out of an individual through threats of reputation damage is a crime. Is a public statement from Bezos "a thing of value"? Well it obviously is to AMI, if they went that far to get one.
Some have commented about the audacity of hacking & blackmailing Bezos and whether it's "crazy". It's only crazy because it's Bezos. Dictators (including our dictators) have been doing this (hacking & blackmailing their opponents) for years.
.@Zeynep explains it well. The target isn't only the person whose information is leaked, but also his/her family. The message is "Do the right thing, protect your family, cooperate". They even try to blackmail activists into becoming their spies.
Understand this: Dictatorial regimes are *not* built on institutions. They are basically personal networks disguised as institutions. If that reminds you of Trump, nicely spotted. Dictators normally have ego problems and *absolutely* take things personally.
So is it so crazy that they'll hack someone's phone and try to blackmail them? No it's not, it's standard practice. Is it crazy they'll try this on the richest* man on earth? Yes absolutely. That's the crazy part, that they'd try it on Bezos.
*Bezos is likely not the richest man on earth. You see, Bezos has to file taxes etc so has to declare his income. The richest man on earth is likely a dictator who's completely unaccountable and doesn't have to reveal his wealth.
On the question of the hacking capabilities of the Saudi regime, there are lots of articles and links to read - here's one. They have previously used Israeli software to hack the phones of activists (this helped them spy on Khashoggi): nytimes.com/2018/12/02/wor…
Some have asked whether, maybe, Bezos's ex-girlfriend was planted, and it was she who leaked the photos. Interesting theory, but I don't buy it. Bezos didn't become the richest man in the world by being this naive. Don't think it could have been that easy.
About the Saudi whistle blower - he told me that MBS had a "hit list" of dissidents to go after, Khashoggi was on top of that list. After the murder, MBS came up with a new list of his enemies in global media - the @washingtonpost was on top of that list.
@washingtonpost More later - we've only scratched the surface. But before I go - please make a donation to my team! The easiest way is to join our @Patreon, here: patreon.com/kawaakibi
Someone else spotted the glaring link:
If you wanna continue reading - here's a thread about Bezos's business interests in Saudi Arabia, and how they may have factored into this. MBS opened fire on Bezos months ago - in November, to be exact. And it was all about Khashoggi and the WaPost.
