COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – NATO’s secretary-general says his bid to become the alliance’s chief was supported by President Barack Obama, who worked behind the scenes to make it happen.
In an autobiography published Friday in Norwegian titled “My Story,” former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg wrote that Obama sent him a letter in late 2013 after Stoltenberg had resigned because his Labor Party had lost a parliamentary election.
He said Obama had added a handwritten message: “I hope we have future opportunities to collaborate.”
“Little did I know that his staff had spoken to (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel about this,” Stoltenberg wrote about the NATO job.
Months later, he met Obama adviser Karen Donfried, who described the president as “the world’s best campaign leader” who “is working for you.”