Acting on a suspicion that its members had been targeted by surveillance by the U.S., the German government pressed President Barack Obama to know whether U.S. intelligence agencies had listened in on German conversations.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Obama directly if her cell phone had been tapped or if her conversations had been recorded by the U.S., which Obama denied. In a sternly worded message to Obama, Merkel demanded to know if she was tapped and told him it would be “a grave breach of trust.”
The German concerns follow outrage in France, after Le Monde in Paris revealed that ordinary French citizens had been the subject of spying by the U.S.
Germany and France join Brazil — the president of which canceled a trip to the U.S. — and Mexico as nations expressing shock and outrage that the U.S. may have spied on its citizens.
See the story at The New York Times.
