The German Government Denies Reports That Trump Gave Merkel A NATO "Invoice"

[JawJaw]

Source: Buzzfeed

The German government has denied receiving a "bill" or an "invoice" amounting to billions of dollars "owed" by Germany to NATO.

"The reports about the mentioned invoice or bill are wrong," a government spokesperson told BuzzFeed News on Monday.

"Chancellor Merkel and President Trump discussed the topic of defense expenditure during their talks in Washington. They informed the public about these talks in a press conference," the spokesperson added.

The German response comes after the Sunday Times reported over the weekend that Donald Trump had handed the German chancellor Angela Merkel a bill — thought to be for more than £300 billion ($374 billion) — for money her country “owed” NATO for defending it when the two leaders met at the White House two weeks ago.

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/the-german-government-denies-reports-that-trump-gave-merkel?utm_term=.wlEjbEzEm#.evWzeEmED

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Whilst it's sadly all too plausible to discount the White House version of events as fabricated, the German government's denial does tend to cast doubt on the invoice story. The anonymous nature of the sources in the original Times report doesn't help.

They could be trying to be incredibly diplomatic and play things down for the sake of the greater good, or The Sunday Times could have been the target of a deliberate misinformation operation by...well...let me guess?

Russia may be trying to discredit the Sunday Times for this, perhaps?

RT loses advertisers after Sunday Times accusation

The portrayal of Russian media as propaganda and “fake news” by the Sunday Times early February appeared to prompt some of the RT UK channel advertisers to pull airtime on the channel after they were pressed to comment by the newspaper on an upcoming investigative report on the matter.

So, is this just another example of Putin throwing out crazy stories as a smoke screen, both to distract and discredit his opponents in the news media?

[elleng]

1. Fake news,

one or the other.

[pnwmom]

2. But the initial report was said to have come from a German minister.

What reason would the German minister have had for lying about this?

[Fast Walker 52]

7. posssibly the German comment was misconstrued joke?

[pnwmom]

10. I don't think so. This was the original report:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germany-dismisses-white-houses-intimidating-300bn-bill-for-defence-dl7dk629k

Donald Trump handed the German chancellor Angela Merkel a bill — thought to be for more than £300bn — for money her country “owed” Nato for defending it when they met last weekend, German government sources have revealed.

The bill — handed over during private talks in Washington — was described as “outrageous” by one German minister.

“The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations,” the minister said.

[red dog 1]

3. Kick for exposure

Interesting to note that The Sunday Times is listed as "Conservative & Centre-right" by Wikipedia.

[JawJaw]

5. Very much so.

Yes - it's very much Murdoch owned and part of the UK establishment, but I don't think it would risk its reputation by just making a story up completely.

Having said that, I'm surprised that they didn't appear to make a greater effort to get official German govt comment before they ran the story.

How convincing/credible were these anonymous sources to the Times journalists, I wonder?

[MFM008]

4. Im sure he gave her something

and it wasn't a valentine.

[NCjack]

6. Actually, it was a bill for Merckel and her group who

were #45's "guests" for supper at the White House. Apparently, she did not notice it as it was placed in front of her, minutes after the dessert dishes were removed and as everyone was moving to a more comfortable room, where #45 regaled them with the details of his political victory. The German group sat close to each other, some of the were heard whispering in German "Oh my God, please end it now."

[Fast Walker 52]

9. do you have a source for that?

[NCjack]

11. No. It's 100% fake.

[Fast Walker 52]

12. haha, ok!

[Fast Walker 52]

8. it's possible that Trump didn't hand a formal "bill" to her, but just a note with the amount on it

[mathematic]

13. A fake invoice is not an invoice

Ask 'em if they received a fake invoice.

[joeybee12]

14. I believe the orange shitgibbon did give her an invoice

The German government probably feels they have to formally deny it for diplomatic reasons