Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee Tom Cotton Calls for the US To Pause Intel Sharing With German Government, Not To Help It to Spy on Right-Wing AFD Party
Ever since the German domestic intelligence agency classified Alternative for Germany (AfD), party leading the opinion polls as a ‘confirmed’ right-wing extremist organization, the US administration led by President Donald J. Trump has harshly criticized Berlin for this anti-democratic act.
By this classification of the AfD, the spy agency that carries the misleading benign name of ‘Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’ can bring a world of harassment against the right wingers, even as the new Government is already floating the idea of banning the party.
Two of Trump’s top officials, VP JD Vance and State Secretary Marco Rubio, came out publicly with scathing rebukes against the German Government.
Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise.
What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 2, 2025
The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.
The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt—not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment. https://t.co/Un6suHtSNJ
— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 2, 2025
The German Foreign Office decided to respond this way to Rubio:
“This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law. It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped.”
Deputy State Secretary Christopher Landau piled on the abject German reponse:
Finally, today (7) we learned that Republican in Congress are also on the same page as the Trump administration, and – what’s more – are suggesting very practical actions to be taken not to help this sham investigations against the AfD.
Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate intelligence committee, Tom Cotton called American Intel agencies to ‘pause’ intelligence sharing with Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, since that would be used to target the AfD.
Reuters reported:
“I understand that liberal elites on both sides of the Atlantic loathe the AfD, but AfD’s platform has resonated with many Germans,” Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas wrote in a letter to Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s director of National Intelligence.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service classified the AfD on May 2 as an “extremist” group, enabling it to step up monitoring of the country’s biggest opposition party. The AfD declared the move a “blow against democracy” and has filed suit.”
I asked @DNIGabbard to ensure that no American intelligence agencies cooperate with German authorities involved in surveiling domestic political opponents.
These police state tactics are more suited for Russia or Communist China, not Western Europe’s largest country.…
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) May 7, 2025
“Cotton also asked for a review of whether U.S. intelligence under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, cooperated with German requests to surveil the AfD or other opposition parties, and notify the Senate of the findings of that review.”
Read more:
FIGHT BACK: AfD Sues German Spy Agency that Classified It as a ‘Right-Wing Extremist’ Party
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