Berlin Mayor Wegner lied about phone call with Chancellor Merz during power outage; was playing tennis

Even after Kai Wegner's withdrawal as top candidate, the discussion surrounding the "Tennisgate scandal" in the Berlin CDU continues.

Publication date: July 12, 2026 — 8:12 PM

While Berlin's Finance Senator Stefan Evers (CDU) is set to be officially nominated by the state executive committee on Monday as the new top candidate for the upcoming state parliament election in September, the investigation into the Tennisgate scandal surrounding Kai Wegner remains incomplete.

It is still unclear whether the Governing Mayor actually spoke by phone with Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz on January 4 — the day after the longest power outage in the post-war period — as he claimed.

Federal Chancellery's Response

A spokesman for the federal government stated on Saturday evening that not all of the Chancellor's conversations and phone calls are recorded and are usually not documented. "Furthermore, the Chancellor does not recall such a phone call." Several media outlets had previously reported on this.

The spokesman confirmed a report by the Tagesspiegel from Friday, which states that in the proceedings, "it is communicated that, as far as can be determined, the Federal Chancellor did not have a personal conversation with the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Wegner, during the duration of the power outage in question in Berlin in January 2026, neither in person nor by telephone."

Previously, the Federal Chancellery had remained silent for months on whether the phone call had actually taken place. The Tagesspiegel obtained the release of this information through an expedited press law proceeding. The publication reinforces the suspicion that Federal Chancellor Merz had been covering for Wegner for months.

One Word Against Another

"The Wegner affair is also a Merz affair," commented former Green Party member of the Bundestag Renate Künast on the short messaging service Bluesky. "The Federal Chancellor covered up the lie for months that Wegner spoke with him on the phone for crisis management."

The Berlin Senate Chancellery, however, maintains its statement that Governing Mayor Kai Wegner did speak by phone with Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (both CDU) at the beginning of the multi-day power outage. According to the Senate Chancellery, the conversation took place on January 4 at 7:57 PM — one day after a power line in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district went down due to an arson attack by a suspected left-wing extremist group. The phone call with Merz lasted four minutes, a spokesman explained. The Federal Chancellor had called Wegner back that evening.

Background of the Scandal

The contradictory statements characterize the latest development of the scandal, which began with a report by RBB in January. Contrary to his claim of being locked at home and "on the phone all day," Wegner played tennis with his partner, Education Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch (also CDU).

In the following months, there were ever new investigations in which Wegner was caught lying and had to correct details of his daily schedule multiple times. Most recently, the issue was whether Wegner actually spoke with the crisis team before the tennis match and whether a conversation with the Federal Chancellor even took place.

Following the latest revelations by the Tagesspiegel on Tuesday, Kai Wegner announced his withdrawal from the top candidacy at a press conference on Friday. "I can no longer manage to convey messages because everything else overshadows it," said the Governing Mayor.