Donald Trump rejected an invitation to Jeff Bezos’ star-studded Venetian wedding.

Bezos, the tech billionaire, was reportedly trying to cosy up to the US president, in what could be seen as an attempt to fill the position of “First Buddy” vacated by Elon Musk.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the 61-year-old, who is preparing for his lavish three-day wedding in Venice, had spoken twice to Trump in the last few weeks.

As part of his charm offensive, Bezos extended an invitation to his coming nuptials with Lauren Sanchez.

White House officials confirmed to the WSJ that the invitation had been offered. However, Trump was not expected to attend the Venice ceremony owing to scheduling conflicts.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a friend of Sanchez, is expected to attend, along with her husband, Jared Kushner.

Donald Jr, the president’s eldest son, is also going.

In 2019, Donald Trump mocked Bezos as “Jeff Bozo” in a dig at The Washington Post, which the billionaire owned.

However, the newspaper did not support Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election, breaking a liberal tradition going back decades.

In February, the Post refused to run an advertisement attacking the administration that asked whether Donald Trump or Elon Musk was running the country.

Earlier this year, Bezos abandoned plans to display how much Trump’s proposed tariffs were costing Amazon customers on each transaction following a direct appeal from the president.

Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s richest men, appears to be trying to exploit Trump’s spectacular falling out with Musk, which started at the end of last month.

Dave Limp, the chief executive of Bezos’ space company Blue Origin, has also held talks with Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, the WSJ reported.

There are powerful business reasons for Bezos’ approach, notably the possibility of government contracts for Blue Origin.

Until now, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has dominated the market, spectacularly outstripping Blue Origin in the race to become NASA’s main contractor since the US stopped using the Russians to ferry missions to the International Space Station.

Wedding targeted by protest

Extinction Rebellion earlier targeted Bezos’s wedding with a protest in the middle of St Mark’s Square.

An activist from the group scaled a 25-metre-high pole outside St Mark’s Basilica and unfurled a black and white banner that read: “The One Per Cent Ruins The World.”

It followed other demonstrations against the three-day extravaganza, with some Venetians resenting Bezos’ wealth, his links to Trump, and what they see as the exploitation of Venice as a playground for the super-rich.

There was tight security at the first major wedding event at the Madonna dell’Orto church in the Canareggio district on Thursday evening.

A dozen uniformed Carabinieri police blocked the small bridge leading to the church just after 6pm local time as guests were due to arrive.

Riot shields and other equipment were stacked against the wall as the police stood in front of the bridge in readiness for any spontaneous demonstrations.

Local water traffic has been halted, and a drone ban has been imposed on the quarter, with the regulations extending to the nearby historic Jewish quarter.

The Telegraph, London

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