{"id":602,"date":"2026-06-19T17:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatemovingexpertss.com\/?p=602"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:10:43","slug":"meloni-slams-trumps-claim-she-begged-for-a-photo-with-him-as-italys-top-diplomat-cancels-u-s-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatemovingexpertss.com\/?p=602","title":{"rendered":"Meloni slams Trump’s claim she ‘begged’ for a photo with him as Italy’s top diplomat cancels U.S. trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Italian government closed ranks on Friday to\u00a0slam\u00a0U.S. President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0over his claim\u00a0that Premier\u00a0Giorgia Meloni\u00a0had “begged” for a photo with him during the recent G7 summit, a pushback that suggested America’s longtime European ally had had enough of Trump’s boasting and criticism.<\/p>\n

Read more Russia threatens escalation after Ukraine hits Moscow with largest-ever drone attack<\/a><\/p>\n

Italian Foreign Minister\u00a0Antonio Tajani\u00a0abruptly cancelled a planned trip to\u00a0the United States\u00a0this weekend, calling Trump’s claims “serious and offensive” toward Meloni and all of\u00a0Italy.<\/p>\n

Meloni for her part posted a video calling Trump’s claims “completely fabricated” and expressing astonishment that he would invent such things about an ally.<\/p>\n

“Italy and I do not beg,” she said pointedly.<\/p>\n

Trump had made the comments in an interview broadcast Friday on the La7 network. The La7 correspondent had asked Trump about\u00a0Ukraine, but Trump raised Meloni and the conversation turned to their meeting during the just-concluded\u00a0G7 meeting in\u00a0Evian-les-Bains, France.\u00a0Meloni and Trump were filmed speaking at several moments, including alone on a small sofa.<\/p>\n

According to La7, Trump said Meloni had “begged” him for a photo-op. Trump said he wasn’t obliged to do it but that he felt sorry for her and agreed, La7 said. The broadcaster put a dubbed version of the conversation online, not the original English audio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Meloni is astonished and defiant<\/h2>\n
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Trump’s posturing underscored how his alliance with Meloni \u2014 long seen as one of his closest friends in\u00a0Europe\u00a0\u2014 has frayed over his war in\u00a0Iran, his tariffs against\u00a0Europe\u00a0and his complaints when anyone disagrees with him.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0turned on Meloni in April\u00a0after she refused to support his war in\u00a0Iran\u00a0and stood up for\u00a0Pope Leo XIV\u00a0when Trump lashed out at the pontiff.<\/p>\n

But Meloni’s strong response on Friday suggested she no longer fears Trump’s verbal attacks \u2014 attacks that could actually play in her favor in a country where public opinion of the American president has chilled, said\u00a0Lorenzo Castellani, a political scientist at\u00a0Rome’s\u00a0Luiss Guido Carli University.<\/p>\n

“In some ways this was a favor to\u00a0Giorgia Meloni, in the sense that she was accused until a few months ago of being a sort of Trump’s vassal in Europe,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In her video, Meloni said she was responding to Trump’s claims because “certain things deserve an immediate response.”<\/p>\n

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly stunned,” she said. “I don’t know why the president of\u00a0the United States\u00a0behaves this way toward his own allies. After all, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”<\/p>\n

It was an apparent reference to an interview Trump gave to Italian daily Corriere della Sera in April in which he criticized Meloni’s refusal to back the\u00a0U.S.-Israel\u00a0war in\u00a0Iran. Meloni didn’t respond publicly at the time. By Friday, it appeared she had had enough of his boasts and broadsides.<\/p>\n

“I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West, toward the enemies of\u00a0the United States\u00a0\u2014 toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating,” Meloni said Friday. “But there’s one thing he must remember:\u00a0Italy\u00a0and I do not beg.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0White House\u00a0did not return an immediate request for comment on Meloni’s remarks.<\/p>\n

Meloni had initially sought to build on longstanding strong\u00a0U.S.-Italian ties when Trump began his second mandate, and had positioned herself as a “bridge” between\u00a0Washington\u00a0and the\u00a0European Union. She was the lone EU head of state to attend his inauguration.<\/p>\n

Read more U.S. opens tariff probe targeting Germany\u2019s drug pricing policies<\/a><\/p>\n

But relations have frayed over the\u00a0U.S. war in\u00a0Iran, which Meloni has said was illegal, and Trump’s position on\u00a0Ukraine, which\u00a0Italy\u00a0strongly supports. Trump’s tariffs and strong\u00a0U.S. support of\u00a0Israel\u00a0over its war in\u00a0Gaza\u00a0have been other points of contention.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Italian officials close ranks around Meloni<\/h2>\n
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By Friday afternoon, solidarity for Meloni had poured in from across the government and political spectrum, and included a call from President\u00a0Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s respected head of state.<\/p>\n

“Whoever attacks\u00a0@GiorgiaMeloni\u00a0attacks all of us,” posted Transport Minister\u00a0Matteo Salvini.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister\u00a0Carlo Nordio\u00a0referenced the sacrifice of American troops in World War II in underlining the harm to\u00a0U.S.-Italy\u00a0relations caused by Trump.<\/p>\n

“The thousands of crosses marking the graves of American soldiers who died to free us from Nazi-Fascist dictatorship did not deserve such a painful blow to our fraternal ties,” Nordio said on X.<\/p>\n

Defense Minister\u00a0Guido Crosetto\u00a0said he didn’t believe Meloni would ever beg someone for a photo, “not even under threat.”<\/p>\n

Tajani had been due to travel to the\u00a0U.S. on Sunday to take part in an\u00a0Italy-U.S. business forum in\u00a0Miami\u00a0during which he was to have meet with\u00a0U.S. Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio, according to a\u00a0U.S. State Department\u00a0announcement of the meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A ‘fantastic’ friendship frays<\/h2>\n
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Meloni and Trump had gotten off to a strong start, and the two leaders are ideologically aligned on many issues. As the head of a far-right party, Meloni backs curbing migration and promoting traditional values.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Weeks before Trump’s 2025 inauguration,\u00a0Meloni met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago retreat, a visit that she said went “beyond expectations.” It was, she said at the time, “an opportunity to confirm a relationship that promises to be very solid.”<\/p>\n

In the months after, Trump had praised her repeatedly, as “fantastic,” “incredible,” beautiful and a friend.<\/p>\n

But stark differences emerged over\u00a0Ukraine. More recently, Meloni sharply warned against\u00a0U.S. threats to take\u00a0Greenland\u00a0by force, saying she didn’t believe\u00a0Washington\u00a0would go so far and that regardless\u00a0Italy\u00a0would never support such a move.<\/p>\n

Meloni also received support from an unlikely ally in\u00a0Europe:\u00a0Spain’s\u00a0Socialist Prime Minister\u00a0Pedro S\u00e1nchez, who was on Friday asked about the back and forth on the sidelines of a\u00a0European Council\u00a0meeting.<\/p>\n

“About Meloni, first and foremost, all my solidarity,” he told reporters. “Secondly, I not only say this publicly in a response to your question, but also in private during the\u00a0European Council\u00a0meeting I offered her all my solidarity against this attack that is not political or personal \u2026 I really don\u00b4t know how to qualify it.”<\/p>\n

Read more U.S.-Iran deal in photos: ships in the Strait of Hormuz, daily life in Tehran<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian Foreign Minister\u00a0Antonio Tajani\u00a0abruptly canceled a planned trip to\u00a0the U.S., calling Trump’s claims “serious and offensive” toward Meloni and Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMeloni slams Trump's claim she 'begged' for a photo with him as Italy's top diplomat cancels U.S. trip - Interstate Moving Experts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatemovingexpertss.com\/?p=602\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meloni slams Trump's claim she 'begged' for a photo with him as Italy's top diplomat cancels U.S. trip - 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