Angela Merkel, Barack Obama

FILE – In this Sept. 6, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama, right, walks with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a group photo of G-20 leaders outside of the Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. Reports based on leaks from former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden suggest the U.S. has monitored the telephone communications of 35 foreign leaders. The fact that Merkel was among them has been particularly troubling to many in Europe and on Capitol Hill, given her status as a senior stateswoman, the leader of Europe’s strongest economy, and a key American ally on global economics, Iranian nuclear negotiations and the Afghanistan war. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)