Exclusive: Leaked trove reveals extent of far-right AfD’s efforts to court Trump and Maga allies

The Guardian · 10/23/2026, 11:07:00 AM

Documents show German party’s scramble to request support after president’s 2016 election win and co-leader’s pursuit of Steve Bannon A data leak from Germany’s far-right German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has revealed the extent of efforts by the party to court Donald Trump and other leading figures in the Maga movement, stretching back more than a decade. The trove reveals the pains the AfD took in wooing the president, whom they saw from the beginning as a potential ally, with senior party officials agonising over the wording of an obsequious congratulatory telegram when he was elected in 2016, which included the wish that his “hopes as a person be fulfilled”. Continue reading...