Following the revelation made by the New York Post last night that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been seeing former "Extra" host Lauren Sanchez, the National Enquirer on Thursday revealed why Bezos had come forward with his seemingly impromptu announcement of his divorce from wife MacKenzie Bezos: The gossip rag was preparing to publish an expose of his relationship with Sanchez, the culmination of a four-month investigation.

The Inquirer - which is famously run by (now former) Trump ally David Pecker (Pecker is currently cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller) - has now published the story, complete with photos (which are only available in the magazine's print edition) which purport to show the couple canoodling and cavorting around town on dates. The Enquirer famously bought the story of a former Playboy model who was threatening to publicize an affair she allegedly had with the president.

Bezos, meanwhile, is a notorious Trump antagonist via his ownership of the Washington Post. And apparently there is a common thread between the Enquirers involvement in both scandals.

One of the bylines on this National Enquirer story about Jeff Bezos is Dylan Howard, the AMI editor who was involved in AMI & Michael Cohen’s efforts to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump. https://t.co/dAXSPJXFik — erica orden (@eorden) January 10, 2019

For a tabloid rag, the Enquirers' reporters displayed an impressive amount of gumption, tracking Bezos across "5 states and 40,000 miles" and tailing them in "private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides and romantic hikes...'

The Enquirer said its reporters tracked Bezos and Sanchez "across five states and 40,000 miles, tailed them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides, romantic hikes, five-star hotel hideaways, intimate dinner dates and 'quality time' in hidden love nests." The front-page headline, the Enquirer revealed, will be "The cheating photos that ended his marriage."

But even more embarrassing for the mogul, the Enquirer said it had gotten its hands on "raunchy photos and erotic selfies" shared between the pair. The tabloid even said it had captured photos of Bezos and his "raven-haired mistress" during a tryst at the same Boston hotel where the Bezos family stayed while visiting one of his sons at MIT.

Our reporters snapped the braggadocios billionaire and his raven-haired lover, 49, doing the dirty on their spouses together no fewer than six times in 14 days. On one occasion they even enjoyed a secret tryst at the very Boston, Mass., hotel the Bezos family stayed at when in town for Parents Day at his son’s MIT campus!

Meanwhile, in a separate report about the whirlwind romance, the supermarket tabloid published a series of spicy text messages reportedly sent by Bezos to his new flame some time last fall.

In one message, which reads like the mangled lyrics to a sappy 90s ballad, Bezos professes his love for Sanchez, telling her "I want to breathe you in."

In another pillow talk exchange, on May 13, the horn-dog billionaire wrote: "I want to smell you, I want to breathe you in. I want to hold you tight...I want to kiss your lips...I love you. I am in love with you."

A second text is even more explicit.

In one message obtained by The Enquirer, on newsstands today, Bezos wrote: "I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon."

The time stamps on the text make clear that the relationship between the two began long before Bezos' publicly disclosed his divorce, and the fact that Bezos and his wife MacKenzie had been separated was "widely known." However, the now ex-couple was spotted in September celebrating their wedding anniversary.

In an amusing aside, the Enquire reported that Bezos told them through a lawyer that he "supports journalistic efforts" and "does not intend to discourage reporting about him."

Though the tawdry scandal will undoubtedly embarrass the typically private Bezos family, at least MacKenzie can take comfort in the notion that she will soon walk away with half of her family's assets, immediately establishing her as the world's wealthiest woman.

In their statement from Wednesday, Jeff and MacKenzie said they intend to "stay friends."