Italy’s Meloni ‘astonished’ over Trump’s claim she begged him for photo | World News

Italian Prime ​Minister Giorgia Meloni has accused Donald Trump of making up a story about her, after ‌the US president told an Italian TV channel that she had “begged” him to take a picture with her at the G7 summit in France.

Ms Meloni said she was “astonished” by his remarks, which were “completely made up”.

She also criticised him for acting with far greater deference to the West’s enemies than he does towards established allies.

Following Donald Trump’s comments, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said he was cancelling a planned US visit next week.

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The row comes just days after signs emerged at the summit ⁠that the two right-wing leaders had ironed out a previously strained relationship following tensions over the Iran war.

Video from the event in Evian, which ran from Monday to Wednesday, showed Ms Meloni and Mr Trump in conversation, sitting side-by-side on a small sofa.

But the US president suggested he had only indulged her by speaking with her.

“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Mr Trump was quoted as saying by La7 TV channel in a brief interview, after he himself asked the journalist about Ms Meloni.

“She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so ​badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” Mr Trump said, according to La7’s translation.

The channel did not put out the original audio, instead releasing a dubbed version.

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Ms Meloni responded: “Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don’t ‌know why ⁠the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover.”

“I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence,” she said, adding: “There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.”

Foreign ​minister Mr Tajani, announcing the cancellation ​of his planned US trip, said on X: “The ⁠serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend the whole of Italy.”

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One of Meloni’s closest political allies, who usually avoids ​the media spotlight, hit out at Mr Trump’s “inappropriate outbursts”.

“It is ​unclear whether out ⁠of intent or ineptitude (Trump) is wrecking the historic relations between the United States and Europe,” Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary to the prime minister’s office, said in a statement.

“With his inappropriate outbursts, he has managed no easy feat, to make the United States unpopular across the entire European continent, damaging not ⁠only Europe ​but above all the United States,” he added.

Ms Meloni, once a vocal supporter of Mr Trump and the only European leader to attend his inauguration in 2025, criticised him this year for his angry response to Pope Leo’s condemnation of the Iran conflict.

The US president accused her of lacking courage, telling Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview: “I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong.”