Fake news: Leftist Berlin mayor falsely accuses Trump of “piracy” over botched order of N95 masks

Berlin’s Left-wing Mayor and Interior Secretary have both accused the Trump administration of “piracy” for allegedly “confiscating” 200.000 N95 masks ordered for Berlin police from 3M in China. When called out by the conservative opposition, the entire story turned out to be Fake News.

Berlin’s Interior Secretary Andreas Geisel confirmed his anti-American allegations to Left-wing Tagesspiegel newspaper, which ran with the story without waiting for independent confirmation or checking with US authorities.

“We regard this as an act of international piracy,” Geisel said.

“This is not how you treat your Transatlantic partners,” Geisel added while accusing Trump of employing “Wild West” methods.

Germany: Migrant NGO demands asylum seekers be moved to hotels and vacation rentals with WiFi in every room due to virushttps://t.co/oERPIBPLhr

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Berlin’s Left wing-mayor Michael Müller then chimed in on the anti-American Trump-bashing, claiming “The US President’s actions are far from solidarity and responsibility. They are inhuman and unacceptable.”

Police commissioner Barbara Slowik told the Tagesspiegel they had ordered 400,000 N95 masks from a US manufacturer, 200,000 of which she claimed had been “confiscated” at Bangkok airport.

“We have to assume this is a result of US export restrictions.”

City council leader Burkard Dregger (CDU) questioned the allegations, calling them “deliberately misleading”.

The outrageous claim then began to fall apart almost immediately.

On Friday evening, manufacturer 3M told press agency dpa, they had “no record of an order for 3M masks from China by the Berlin police,” and “no indication that any 3M products were confiscated.”

The White House similarly stated the US had not “confiscated” any PPE destined for abroad.

On Saturday, the Berlin Interior Department had to admit the order had been placed with the 3M affiliate in Germany, of which 200.000 masks had merely been delayed in Bangkok. The reason was unclear. The US government was not involved.

 The Berlin Mayor or Interior secretary have yet to apologize. The US embassy protested on Twitter:

.@washingtonpost: “A #Berlin official, who accused the U.S. administration of “piracy” after 200,000 #masks for the city police went missing, backtracked Saturday and said the masks were ordered from a #German firm.” https://t.co/JfWfG0fXnn pic.twitter.com/6MqOUQh4s6

— US-Botschaft Berlin (@usbotschaft) April 4, 2020

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