Amazon

What they did. Amazon MGM Studios paid a reported $40 million for the “Melania” documentary, plus roughly $35 million in marketing; the next-highest bid was reportedly about $26 million lower. The company gave $1 million to the inauguration and is a ballroom donor. It reportedly dropped plans to display tariff costs to shoppers after White House criticism in April 2025. An FTC monopolization case and federal cloud and defense contracts are pending. Public Citizen counts $255.7 million in new or increased Amazon contracts in the six months to May 2026. [Public Citizen]

What Democrats have said and done. Sen. Warren and Rep. Hank Johnson, joined by Sen. Luján and Reps. Goldman and Jayapal, opened an inquiry on March 15, 2026 into “Amazon’s Melania documentary payments as possible corrupt pay-to-play scheme.” [Warren press release] [Letter] [USA Today] Warren and Rep. Min wrote on the ballroom donation on Dec. 3, 2025; Amazon’s Dec. 16 reply confirmed talks with the ballroom fundraising group began in August 2025. [Warren-Min letters] [Amazon response] Blumenthal’s ballroom-donor letter and the Warren-Bennet inaugural letter also went to Amazon. Warren’s Aug. 7, 2026 letters on IEEPA tariff refunds included Amazon. [Warren]

Why it intensifies. Amazon appears on Bade’s February list, the POLITICO October list of companies “on the table,” and Bloomberg reports it has already faced investigative inquiries. [Bloomberg Law, Oct. 12, 2026] It is the only company on this list whose payment went to a First Family enterprise rather than a third-party fund, which removes the need for an intermediary theory. It also sits on both Democratic tracks: corruption (the film, the ballroom, the Post) and affordability (tariff refunds, Garcia’s surveillance-pricing inquiry). Amazon says the film was a content decision won through competitive bidding and that the ballroom gift came with no agreement.

Download Knext’s PDF assessment of Amazon.