Amazon hires Obama’s former press secretary as a senior VP

New York -- Jay Carney, former White House press secretary for the Obama administration and current CNN analyst, has been appointed senior VP of worldwide corporate affairs for Amazon, effective March 2. The newly created position brings Amazon’s worldwide public relations and public policy shops into one department under Carney.



The news was first reported by Politico, which noted that Carney will leave CNN and divide his time between the online retail giant’s headquarters in Seattle and Washington, D.C.



Carney served as Obama’s press secretary from 2011 to 2014. He resigned in May, but stayed on the job until mid-June.



The Carney hire further bolsters Amazon's political ties to Washington. Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, in an acquisition that some interpreted as a way for him to exert political influence in the nation's capital.