James Carville said he was surprised to learn that Amazon spent $40 million to license a documentary about Melania Trump, but suggested Thursday that the sum was just a half-baked gift from founder Jeff Bezos to President-elect Donald Trump and his wife.
“What’s happening right before your eyes is, they’re paying her $40 million,” Carville said in a video from Politicon. “I don’t know; let’s get someone to look into this better. We can make a documentary about the history of the universe without spending $40 million.”
Bezos has become increasingly friendly with Trump. The owner of the Washington Post pulled the Post’s support for Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the November election and celebrated Trump’s victory. And Amazon announced it would donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.
Carville, a longtime Democratic strategist who has warned in the Oval Office that Trump’s term is in jeopardy, freely shared his doubts about this latest payment Thursday. An Amazon spokesperson told Variety on Sunday that it was for the former first lady’s “truly unique story.”
The documentary is reportedly being co-produced by Melania Trump.
“This is me trying to claim some expertise on the subject of the documentary, because I’ve been the subject twice and it’s been a recent subject,” Carville said Thursday. “You can produce a world-class documentary with $2 million.”
“You can work 10 times harder and still not be able to spend $40 million on a documentary, so where does that money go?” He added: “Well, we know where the money goes. And for Bezos, who is worth something like $400 billion, this is all just dumb change.”
Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press
Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but still serves as chairman. According to the World’s 500 Richest People Index published by Bloomberg, Bezos’ net worth is $241 billion, following Trump President Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Carville noted that ABC agreed to pay $15 million to the Trump Presidential Library in December to settle a defamation suit. He claimed the billionaire decided to pay significantly more to license Melania Trump’s film because “Bezos is richer.”
“It’s breathtaking,” Carville said.
The documentary is being directed by Brett Ratner, who faced numerous sexual harassment allegations in 2017 during the height of the #MeToo movement and has not directed a feature film since 2014’s critically panned “Hercules.”
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The untitled documentary project is scheduled to be released in theaters and on Prime Video later this year.
