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Key points
- A leaked trove of AfD data shows the German far-right party courted Donald Trump and Maga figures for over a decade.
- The leak includes more than 420,000 emails and documents from the party's founding in 2013 to the present.
- The AfD now leads national polls at about 30% and is trying to form a state government in Saxony-Anhalt.
A data leak from Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has revealed more than a decade of efforts by the party to court Donald Trump and other leading figures in the Maga movement, according to The Guardian. The material was provided to reporters by the transparency organisation Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets).
The trove covers more than 420,000 emails, along with documents and personnel records, from the party's founding in 2013 to the present, with most dating from before 2019.
Courting Trump and his allies
The documents show senior AfD officials agonising over the wording of a congratulatory telegram sent when Trump was elected in 2016, which included the wish that his "hopes as a person be fulfilled". They also show the party quickly moving to request White House support on policy issues after his 2016 win.
Other material shows a growing political courtship between senior figures, including the AfD's now leader Alice Weidel and key Trump ideologue Steve Bannon.
hopes as a person be fulfilled
— AfD officials, in a 2016 congratulatory telegram to Trump
Party's rising electoral strength
The AfD became a home for anti-immigration voters after 1.2 million refugees arrived in Germany in 2015 and 2016. It entered the Bundestag in 2017 with 12.6% of the vote, came second in the February 2025 federal election with 20.8%, and now leads national polls at about 30%.
In September it won 43.8% of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt and is now trying to form Germany's first far-right state government since the second world war. Trump hailed that win on Truth Social, ending his message with "MGGA!!!" Germany's domestic intelligence agency monitors the party as a suspected rightwing extremist organisation.
