Washington Post says it will not endorse presidential candidate

The influential Washington Post newspaper, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, announced on Oct 25 it will endorse neither Democrat Kamala Harris nor Republican Donald Trump in the US presidential election.

Chief executive officer William Lewis said this was a return "to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates".

However, the Post editorial board has endorsed candidates for much of the last four decades - all of them Democrats - before deciding to stay on the sidelines in one of the most polarising elections in US history.

Newspaper editorials have little of their once-powerful political heft. But the Post - whose slogan is "Democracy dies in darkness" - is one of a small number of traditional media outlets that still retains considerable influence among Washington's elite.

The decision to sidestep controversy comes days after one of Trump's most senior aides during his presidency said the Republican had praised Adolf Hitler and was himself "fascist".