Merkel Calls Obama About Report of U.S. Monitoring Her Cell Phone

White House denies U.S. is monitoring German Chancellor's communications

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel called President Barack Obama on Wednesday to ask about a report that the U.S. may have snooped on her cell phone, both governments said.

Merkel said the report, by the German magazine Der Spiegel, would be “a serious breach of trust” if true, the Associated Press reports. Obama told Merkel the U.S. is not monitoring her communications, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

“The United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges,” Carney told reporters at the White House. “The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the Chancellor.”

Der Spiegel based its report on documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Reports of U.S. government spying based on documents from Snowden have angered allies in both Europe and South America.

With reporting by Zeke J. Miller