A transcript from the High Court reveals that, per Lars Findsen, two ex–prime ministers and two former permanent secretaries unsuccessfully tried to persuade Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) to change course.

Secret court transcript: Behind closed doors, the spy chief revealed details of a failed bid to influence Mette Frederiksen

A sealed hearing transcript from the Eastern High Court shows Lars Findsen explained that two former prime ministers sought to nudge Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to change tack in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service scandal. Arkivfoto Jens Dresling
A sealed hearing transcript from the Eastern High Court shows Lars Findsen explained that two former prime ministers sought to nudge Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to change tack in the Danish Defence Intelligence Service scandal. Arkivfoto Jens Dresling
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Former Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (S) attempted, in consultation with his successor Anders Fogh Rasmussen (V), two former permanent secretaries, and the suspended intelligence chief Lars Findsen, to persuade Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) to change course in the case concerning Denmark’s cable cooperation with the United States, which resulted in a major public scandal. However, the prime minister »did not wish to listen« to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

This was explained by the suspended chief of Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (the Danish Defense Intelligence Service), Lars Findsen, according to a previously confidential transcript from a closed court hearing at the Eastern High Court in February 2022. Politiken has obtained access to a transcript from the court record, which has been released after the government decided to drop the case against Lars Findsen.

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