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ALBANY – Did the highly publicized divorce and extra-marital affair of Jeff Bezos influence Amazon's decision to abandon plans to build a second New York headquarters month? latest?

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio alluded to this during an early Friday morning appearance on MSNBC Joe in the morning.

"I think we could all say that unusual events were happening within the Amazonian family at that time, and that was said politely," Blasio said. "There were clearly unusual factors."

On February 14, Amazon announced that it was giving up the construction of a seat in the Queens area in the face of local opposition, union retaliation and the protest of more than $ 3 billion. public subsidy dollars that the online retail giant would have received had it created the 25,000 jobs promised or more.

The decision was brutal and shocked by Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, who both led negotiations to land Amazon.

Mayor's comments

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that "unusual things were happening at Amazon when he canceled his projects in New York, citing the personal troubles of his founder, Jeff Bezos. (Photo: Hans Pennink, AP)

A month earlier, Bezos announced that he and his wife were about to divorce after 25 years of marriage, and the National Enquirer published photos and texts showing him in an extramarital affair with a former news presenter.

Noah Rothman, a contributor to MSNBC, followed up on De Blasio's initial comments and asked if the Democratic mayor thought the case had something to do with Amazon's decision.

"I'm just saying that it was an unusual environment," replied Blasio.

Then host Willie Geist again pressed Blasio.

"This means that an agreement has been reached and that this agreement has progressed for weeks and weeks and weeks," said the mayor. "Nobody has discussed anything that changes, I want to be clear about it."

Shortly afterwards, Geist returned to De Blasio's words and asked, "Mr. Mayor, you have announced something we need to stop you from – you somehow believe in the business of Jeff Bezos …"

The mayor replied, "No, I did not say that, I said it was an unusual environment, which meant that there was a lot of cross-pressure. A lot of things were happening. "

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"Like what?" Says Geist.

"Once again, you'll manage," replied Blasio.

Blasio pressing

Geist later came back on the issue during the interview, saying, "You believe that part of the reason this agreement was canceled may be because of what was going on internally at Amazon? "

And Blasio said, "There was a lot of torment, there was a lot of torment, just put it in …"

He added: "A decision was made in a very arbitrary way."

Amazon declined to comment on the mayor's remarks. The company maintained a local opposition that sabotaged the deal.

"For Amazon, the commitment to building a new headquarters requires positive collaborative relationships with local and local elected officials who will provide long-term support," the company said at the time.

More: Amazon withdrew from the construction project of QG2 in New York in the midst of a political opposition

More: Why Amazon's huge plans for New York have collapsed

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