{"id":14353,"date":"2026-06-19T14:08:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=14353"},"modified":"2026-06-19T14:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:08:25","slug":"italy-nixes-envoys-u-s-visit-as-leader-meloni-stunned-by-trump-comments-neither-i-nor-italy-beg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=14353","title":{"rendered":"Italy nixes envoy’s U.S. visit as leader Meloni “stunned” by Trump comments: “Neither I nor Italy beg”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said Friday she was left “stunned” by President Trump reportedly telling an Italian network that she had “wanted a picture with me so badly” at the G7 summit earlier in the week, and that he only said yes because he “felt sorry for her.”<\/p>\n

“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Italian TV channel La 7 quoted Mr. Trump as saying. The network only released an Italian voice-dubbed version of the conversation, so CBS News has not been able to verify his remarks.<\/p>\n

“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 \u200cher,” he said, according to the channel.<\/p>\n

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From the left, President Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni leave following a family photo at the G7 Summit on June 16, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Anna Moneymaker\/Getty<\/p>\n

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In a video posted online, Meloni, a conservative politician previously seen as an ally to the president in Europe, responded by calling Mr. Trump’s depiction of the interaction “made up.”<\/p>\n

“Neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she said. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way with his own allies.”<\/p>\n

“I can only say that it’s a pity he doesn’t show the same determination with enemies of the West, with enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom, instead, he is far more accommodating,” she added.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump’s remarks prompted the Italian government to cancel a planned visit to the U.S. by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani that had been scheduled for June 21 and 22.<\/p>\n

“The serious and offensive words of President Trump \u2026 offend all of Italy,” Tajani wrote Friday in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Meloni said Wednesday, after the G7 summit in France, that there had been a “very positive climate” and “no friction” between Mr. Trump and other leaders at the gathering. Video showed the pair deep in conversation during the event.<\/p>\n

Meloni was the only European leader to come to Washington for Mr. Trump’s second inauguration, and her right-wing politics made her a more logical partner for the White House than other leaders of major European economies, some of whom have been sharply critical of Mr. Trump’s policies.<\/p>\n

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\"Trump<\/span>

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President Trump greets Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni upon her arrival at the White House, in an April 17, 2025 file photo taken in Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tom Brenner\/AP<\/p>\n

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But the Iran war has put a strain on their relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April, after Mr. Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV’s anti-war views<\/span>, Meloni called his remarks\u00a0 “unacceptable.”<\/p>\n

“I’m shocked at her,” the president responded in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera. “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong.”<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has since threatened to withdraw U.S. forces from Italy, saying the country “has not been of any help to us” in the Iran war — criticism he has leveled at all U.S. NATO allies.<\/p>\n

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