Amazon.com founder and Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos fired back at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying on Wednesday that Trump's criticism of Bezos's ownership of the newspaper and the threats issued against Amazon are "not an appropriate way for a presidential candidate to behave."

In an appearance at a Post-sponsored technology conference called Transformers at the paper's headquarters, Bezos also said that "a company like Amazon deserves to be scrutinized and criticized. I have no worries about that."

But he offered a vigorous defense of freedom of the press: "It's critical that we be able to carefully examine our leaders."

The comments came during a question-and-answer session moderated by The Post's executive editor, Martin Baron. Bezos was responding to criticism leveled against him and The Post by Trump last week.

In an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity on Thursday, Trump accused Bezos of using The Post to protect himself from higher taxes. He presented no evidence for his assertion.