An angry Germany demanded that the U.S. ambassador appear in Berlin on Thursday to address allegations that America’s government had tapped into the phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The ambassador, John Emerson, is supposed to meet with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle late Thursday, USA Today reported. The demand for a meeting came after Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the chancellor expressed dismay about the claims directly to President Obama, in a telephone call, and said such behavior would be “completely unacceptable.”
Mr. Seibert explained: “Among close friends and partners, as Germany and the U.S. have been for decades, there should be no such monitoring of government communications. This would be a serious breach of trust. Such practices must be stopped immediately.”
Meanwhile, top-ranking U.S. officials continue to deny the tapping of Ms. Merkel’s phone. Specifically, they say that the phone is not now being tapped, nor will it be tapped in the future — but dodge the issue of whether it’s been tapped in the past.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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