Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has accused Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her after the US President told an Italian network that she “begged” him for a photo at the G7 summit earlier this month.
“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up … I am frankly astonished,” she said in an Instagram video.
“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.”
Italian TV channel La7 reported — through translation — that Trump said: “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.”
Meloni was once a vocal supporter of Trump and the only European leader to attend his inauguration in 2025, however, she later distanced herself from him after criticising his comments directed at Pope Leo XIV over the US-Iran war.
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