Bezos says he is not cowed by Trump

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos fired back on Wednesday at Donald Trump, calling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's barbs at him not "appropriate."

Bezos, appearing at a Washington Post question-and-answer session, responded to a series of critical remarks by Trump, ranging from Amazon's taxes to the Post's reporting on the candidate.

Bezos said it was proper for the newspaper to carry out its role of investigating presidential candidates.

"We want a society where any of us ... can scrutinise, examine and criticise an elected official, especially a candidate for president of the most powerful country on earth," Bezos said at the forum under questioning by Post executive editor Martin Baron.