Saudi Minister for Foreign Affairs Al-Jubeir denies Saudi government role in leaks to AMI

In an interview with "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan for this Sunday's broadcast, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir denied the suggestion that the Saudi Arabian government had anything to do with leaking Jeff Bezos' personal text messages and photographs to American Media Inc., saying "we have absolutely nothing to do with this."

"This sounds to me like a soap opera," Al-Jubeir told Brennan.  "Maybe some of our citizens read The National Enquirer then they're in the United States…but that's it."

On Thursday, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos accused AMI, the parent company behind the National Enquirer, of blackmailing him by threatening to publish intimate photographs of his affair with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez unless Bezos backed off criticisms of the Enquirer.

In a Medium post Bezos published Thursday, he suggested that Saudi Arabia may have played a role in the leaks. Bezos wrote that AMI and its owner, David Pecker, "have also been investigated for various actions they've taken on behalf of the Saudi Government."

Despite the U.S. intelligence community's assessment and worldwide condemnation, the Saudi government still vehemently denies the Crown Prince was involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in October.

"The Post's essential and unrelenting coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles," Bezos wrote.

Al-Jubeir denied the connection, saying "as far as I am aware.  And I believe I would be aware," no one in the Saudi government or any of its employees had any contact with AMI or owner David Pecker.

"This is something between the two parties," Al-Jubeir said.

"We have nothing to do with it."