Meloni accuses Trump of "making up" that she begged him to take a photo with him

RomeThe President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated in a television interview that the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, had "begged" him to take a photo together during the G-7 summit, held this week in the French town of Évian-les-Bains. Following Trump's statements, Meloni, who has been one of the American President's main allies in the European Union, admitted to being "surprised" by the comments, which she described as "completely invented". This is the latest in a series of clashes between Trump and Meloni that have brought the relationship between the two leaders to its most tense moment.

During a brief phone interview with the La 7 channel – of which only the transcript is known so far – Trump asks the journalist how Meloni is and what has been said in Italy after the short meeting the two had on the sidelines of the G-7 summit, when they were photographed talking animatedly while sitting on a sofa. “I imagine she's happy to have a friend like you,” the journalist timidly replies, likely not expecting the White House occupant's reaction. “She's sure she's happy I spoke with her. I didn't have to. She begged me to take a picture with her! She really wanted a picture with me. I wouldn't have accepted, but I felt sorry for her,” Trump adds.

Meloni, faced with the accusations, was quick to respond: “There are certain things that deserve an immediate response. I don't understand why the President of the United States behaves like this with his allies. It's not the first time this has happened, and I regret that he doesn't show the same determination towards the enemies of the West,” the Italian Prime Minister stated in a video posted on social media this Friday. And she added: “Neither I nor Italy have ever begged”.

The confrontation between the two leaders has led the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice President of the Italian government, Antonio Tajani, to cancel the visit he had planned to make to the United States at the end of June, following the “serious and offensive words of President Trump against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni”, which “offend all of Italy”.

Pineapple with Meloni

The episode has provoked a unanimous reaction of rejection from the majority of the Italian political class and a call from the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to the Prime Minister. “Solidarity with Meloni for Trump’s indescribable words,” said the senator from the Democratic Party (PD) in opposition, Filippo Sensi. For his part, former Prime Minister and leader of the Five Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, argued that “Italy does not deserve to be humiliated in such a flagrant way.” “I say this as an Italian citizen before being a politician: it is unacceptable that an ally dares to speak like this about our leaders,” he wrote on social media.

For another former Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, now at the head of the centrist party Italia Viva, Trump’s comments are \u201thorrible, as always.” However, the former leader of the PD reminded Meloni that this outcome is the consequence of having gotten too close to the President of the United States and the ideological universe he represents. “Has she finally understood that allying herself with these people means going against Italy? Enough MAGA hats and enough building bridges with Trump,” he said.

The honeymoon between Trump and Meloni was definitively broken in April, when the occupant of the White House accused the Pope of being “terrible in foreign policy” after Leo XIV’s criticism of the war in Iran. An unprecedented attack on the pontiff that Meloni called “inacceptable.” The relationship had already begun to deteriorate shortly before, following the Italian government’s refusal to participate in the war in the Middle East. “The unacceptable one is her, because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the opportunity,” Trump denounced on that occasion.

This week, however, during the G-7, Meloni assured that her relationship with the President of the United States remains the same and argued that the latest disagreements were due to the “strong character of both” when defending their respective national interests. “I have not noticed any change in our relationship. Between us there have been no reproaches nor have we spoken about what happened. We do not need to clarify anything when we disagree on something,” she concluded.