Angela Merkel Blew Off Biden’s First Call

After moving into the White House in January, President Joe Biden decided his first call to a foreign leader would go to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“But Merkel declined the offer of a call on that Friday afternoon because she would be at her country cottage near Berlin, where she spends some weekends tending to her vegetable garden and walking by the lake.”

“Her advisers warned that Biden would have to call several other leaders ahead of her, but she dismissed the symbolism as irrelevant and asked them to make another appointment.”