WikiLeaks: NSA phone tapped Merkel's aides, chancellery offices

BERLIN, July 9 (UPI) -- New documents issued by whistle-blower WikiLeaks show that the U.S. National Security Agency has been spying on German officials for more than a decade.

Three leaked NSA intercepts show 125 phone numbers of top German officials, including the lines of the last three German chancellors: Angela Merkel, Gerhard Schroder (1998-2002) and Helmut Kohl (1982-98).

The phones of Merkel and her aides, her political office and even fax machine were tapped by the agency, according to the reports released Wednesday. Other phone taps included the cellphone of Ronald Pofalla, Merkel's chief of staff from 2009 to 2013; a land line belonging to the leader of Merkel's parliamentary caucus; lines belonging to Merkel's office staff; and a cellphone number that Merkel used until 2013.

WikiLeaks reports that a phone tap list has existed since the 1990s and has been updated since 2002.

Pofalla had testified on July 2 that there was no proof Merkel had been spied on. In 2013, Pofalla also said the United States agreed to not spy on Germany following the release of documents by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said that sufficient proof is now available to warrant the reopening of a German investigation into the espionage.

WikiLeaks adds that the long-term tapping of phone lines by the NSA allowed the United States to know how the German government planned to respond to the international financial crisis and the Eurozone bank bailout. Merkel's personal views on Obama's interactions with Iran were also intercepted from a phone call between Merkel and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Shaykh Muhammad bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan.

The news accompanies an earlier Wikileaks publication that showed 69 other German government telephone numbers that had been tapped for more than two decades. These included the numbers of German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine and former Minister for Economics Werner Müller.

Following that release, U.S. Ambassador John Emerson met with Merkel on July 9. She expressed displeasure at the lack of trust from the United States and insisted that Emerson leave Germany or be expelled under the terms of Vienna Convention.