Jeff Bezos killed Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris, paper reports

The Washington Post said Friday that it will not endorse a candidate in the presidential election for the first time since 1976.

The newspaper also on Friday ran an article by two staff reporters saying that editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the election.

"The decision not to publish was made by The Post's owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos," The Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the events.

Post chief executive Will Lewis, in an online explanation of the decision, wrote, "The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election."

"We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates," Lewis wrote.

The announcement came days after the head of the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times resigned in protest after that paper's owner Patrick Soon-Shiong decided against running a presidential endorsement.

Soon-Shiong, like Bezos, is a billionaire.

Marty Baron, the former editor of The Washington Post, called the paper's decision "cowardice, with democracy at its casualty."

"@realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others)," Bezos wrote. "Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage."

Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, in his own tweet on the news wrote, "The first step towards fascism is when the free press cowers in fear."

This is developing news. Check back for updates.