Bezos v. Biden: Billionaire and president’s team mix it up over inflation

Jeff Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, disagreed on Sunday with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' claim that the Biden administration is either misdirected or "misunderstanding" inflation.

Americans across the country are feeling the effects of increased gas prices and inflation, which was at 8.6% in May. Democrats are blaming the COVID-19 pandemic and businesses for contributing to U.S. financial concerns.

"My message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global peril," Biden tweeted on Saturday. "Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now."

Jeff Bezos, one of the richest people in the world according to Forbes, criticized Biden's tweet by responding on social media. 

"Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It’s either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics," Bezos wrote.

Kirby disputed Bezos on "Fox News Sunday" by saying that President Joe Biden has always been transparent and easily understood. 

"Anybody who knows President Biden knows he’s plainspoken. And he tells you exactly what he’s thinking and in terms that everybody can understand," Kirby stressed. "So I think we obviously take great exception at the idea that this is somehow misdirection."

He said Biden is "working very, very hard across many fronts … to try to bring the price down" of gas.

After hitting a record high of more than $5 a gallon last month, gas prices have gone down slightly to $4.81 a gallon on average, AAA observed.