As Jeff Bezos joins the lineup of billionaires making nice with President-elect Donald Trump, Amazon Prime Video said Sunday that it plans to release a documentary about Melania Trump to “give viewers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at the incoming first lady.
Filming for the project began last month with an eye on a release date in the second half of 2025, the company said in a statement. Details about the documentary are scant for now, though Amazon said it would share details as filming progresses.
The documentary may not reveal much about the president-elect’s notoriously enigmatic wife, especially given her involvement as executive producer on the film. Her recently released memoir, “Melania,” elucidates a number of grievances but sheds little light on her motives or thoughts on her husband’s scandals. Alexandra Jacobs, a New York Times Book Review critic, wrote, “‘Melania’ is less a confessional than a C.V., most notable for what it leaves out than what it includes.”
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The timing of the project and the announcement, however, seem noteworthy. Like other tech leaders, Bezos has been making efforts to improve relations with Donald Trump ahead of his return to the White House. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Amazon is planning to donate $1 million to the president elect’s inaugural fund. A person familiar with the matter added that Prime Video will stream the inauguration in “a separate, in-kind donation valued at $1 million.” Bezos also visited Mar-a-Lago in December for dinner with Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The Washington Post, which Bezos owns, also came under fire in October when he decided to end the news outlet’s practice of endorsing presidential candidates, just as its editorial board was set to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Bezos defended his decision in an op-ed, writing that “no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here.” And last week, a Post cartoonist’s abrupt resignation over the rejection of her sketch showing Bezos bowing to the president-elect has fueled further anger and alarm over the billionaire’s perceived efforts to curry favor with the new administration.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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