President Trump alluded on Friday to the Obama administration’s wiretapping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, telling his foreign counterpart that they had “something in common, perhaps.”
“As far as wiretapping, at least we have something in common, perhaps,” Trump said, turning to Merkel, who did not respond.
The comment came after a German reporter predicted that Trump would be proven wrong for accusing former President Obama of ordering surveillance on his Manhattan campaign headquarters during the election.
The reporter also asked Trump why the White House had said the British surveillance agency GCHQ helped Obama spy on him during the 2016 campaign, an allegation leveled by former judge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News contributor.
“We said nothing,” Trump responded. “All we did was quote a certain, very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television.”
“You should be talking to Fox,” he added.
Merkel criticized Obama in 2013 after a German newsmagazine published a report alleging that former National Security Agency director Keith Alexander had been authorized in 2010 to tap the chancellor’s phone.
“Spying on friends is never acceptable,” Merkel had said in a press conference shortly after the scandal broke.
