CDU politicians outraged: Did Scholz threaten a journalist with an ad at the summer press conference?

Created: 08/11/2022, 16:48

By: Felix Durach

Chancellor Olaf Scholz came under pressure at the summer press conference on the Cum-Ex scandal.

He responded surprisingly clearly to a question.

Berlin – On Thursday morning (August 11), Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) answered questions from journalists at the federal press conference in his position as head of government.

As part of the summer press conference, the 66-year-old answered questions from the journalists for almost an hour and a half.

In addition to the Ukraine war and the resulting energy crisis, the alleged involvement of the Federal Chancellor in the cum-ex scandal was also on the agenda.

Scholz at the summer press conference: When it comes to Cum-Ex, the chancellor becomes monosyllabic

Scholz reacted cautiously and monosyllabically to questions on the latter topic on Thursday.

When a journalist asked the Chancellor at the beginning of the press conference what he knew about finding cash in a safe deposit box belonging to SPD politician Johannes Kahrs, Scholz answered curtly: "Nothing".

When asked when he last spoke to Kahrs, the chancellor replied: "It must have been a long time ago."

The Chancellor regularly avoided direct questions.

"I commented on these things very extensively and for many hours," said Scholz several times.

Work has been going on on this topic for two and a half years and so far it has not been possible to prove that there has been any political influence.

In addition, the Chancellor does not expect this assessment to change again in the further course of the year.

Scholz also responded evasively to the question of whether he wanted to ask Johannes Kahrs to clarify the origin of the discovered 200,000 euros.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz came under pressure at the summer press conference on the Cum-Ex scandal.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

Criticism of the Chancellor's behavior promptly followed from within the Union.

"I don't know what was worse about the Scholz-PK: the arrogant manner or the constant avoidance of specific questions," wrote Florian Hahn, a member of the Bundestag for the CSU.

Cum-Ex scandal: Scholz criticizes questioners – facts “that have not been proven”

When asked about the Cum-Ex scandal, however, the Chancellor surprised with a clear reaction.

"You said you didn't really remember meeting the head of a big bank several times.

But he stole 47 million euros from the German state.

After that, her apparatus in Hamburg instructed her to look at it again.

Whereupon this accused banker was allowed to keep the stolen money.

My question is: Isn't that really credible?", a journalist who was present confronted Scholz.

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Did Scholz threaten a journalist at the press conference?

"Keep that in mind when you say that"

The Chancellor countered the question clearly.

"Above all, it is not credible if you mix facts into a question that have not been proven after two and a half years of research," said Scholz, again referring to the lack of evidence of political influence.

In addition, the state has already collected the outstanding tax claims.

However, the questioner was not convinced by the answer and continued: "But what has been proven and what you also know is that according to your instructions, after you met the man (...), he was then allowed to do that by money stolen from his bank, that's a fact," the journalist explained before being harshly interrupted by the Federal Chancellor.

"No, that's not a fact," said Scholz.

"And if you - you can be sure that I'm not one of those people who do something like that - but you wouldn't be able to substantiate this factual claim," said the Chancellor seriously and after a short pause he added: "You wouldn't substantiate it can if you have to.

Keep that in mind when you say that.”

CDU politicians accuse Scholz of threatening journalists - "press freedom at the limit"

Criticism of this statement followed shortly after the press conference on Twitter.

Union politicians in particular saw Scholz's somewhat cryptic statements as a threat to the journalist.

"That's scholzic for: 'I'll sue you if you keep saying that,'" commented CDU MP Johannes Steiniger on the relevant excerpt from the press conference.

Serap Güler, a member of the federal executive board of the CDU, also sharply criticized the chancellor for his behavior.

"A chancellor who admonishes a journalist or threatens a lawsuit if he does what Scholz himself refuses: inform about Cum-Ex, report.

Wow.

If a Chancellor of the FRG allows himself that, freedom of the press is at the limit,” wrote Güler on Twitter.

Various journalists also commented on the short message service critical of the Chancellor's dealings.

Cum-Ex scandal: open questions at meetings between Scholz and bank shareholders

The background to this is meetings between the then Mayor of Hamburg, Scholz, and the shareholders of Warburg Bank, Christian Olearius and Max Warburg, in 2016 and 2017. Olearius was already being investigated at the time on suspicion of serious tax evasion.

After the first meeting, the tax office for large companies initially waived additional tax claims of 47 million euros when the statute of limitations expired in 2016.

A further 43 million euros were only requested in 2017 after the intervention of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Scholz had stated in the past that he could not remember the meetings, but categorically ruled out any political influence.