President Trump doubled down on his attacks on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Saturday, claiming she “wants to be friends again.”
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” the president insisted on Truth Social, days after the Italian leader denied Trump’s claim she had “begged” him for a photo.
“She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!),” Trump wrote.
Meloni “wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips” for attacks on Iran,” he added.
“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!” he wrote.
The diplomatic rupture began at the G7 meetings in Evian-les-Bains, France, when the president told a journalist with Italy’s La7 TV last week that Meloni “wanted a picture with me so badly,” and claimed he “felt sorry for her.”
“I do not know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his allies — it is certainly not the first time this has happened,” Melonti shot back in a video statement.
Meloni said she was “frankly stunned” at the president’s claim, calling Trump’s comments “made-up.”
“Neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she added.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani nixed a planned US visit that had been set for next week in the wake of the tiff.
Trump and Meloni had warm relations when she came to power in 2022 as head of the right wing populist Brothers of Italy party.
