Italy ends US ambassador’s visit as leader Meloni “surprised” by Trump comments: “Neither I nor Italy ask for it”

Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgio Meloni, said on Friday that he was “stunned” when President Trump reportedly told an Italian network that he “badly wanted my picture” at the G7 summit earlier in the week, and that he only said yes because he “felt sorry for him.”

“Maybe he’s happy that I talked to him. I didn’t have to talk to him,” Italian TV channel La 7 quoted Mr. The network released only an Italian-dubbed version of the interview, so CBS News could not verify his comments.

“He begged me to take a picture with him. He wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for him,” he said, according to the station.

In a video posted online, Meloni, a conservative politician who has been seen working with presidents in Europe, responded by calling Mr.

“I or Italy have never begged,” he said. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way with his allies.”

“I can only say that it is sad that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States, and the leaders, instead, with whom he is most in agreement,” he added.

The comments of Mr. Trump has caused the Italian government to cancel a trip planned by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to the US that was scheduled for June 21 and 22.

“The critical and offensive words of President Trump … angered all of Italy,” Tajani wrote on Friday in an X post.

Meloni said on Wednesday, after the G7 summit in France, there was a “very good atmosphere” and “no conflict” between Mr. Trump and other leaders in this meeting. The video showed the two deep in conversation during the event.

Meloni was the only European leader who came to Washington for the second inauguration of Mr. Trump, whose right-wing politics made him a more logical partner for the White House than other leaders of major European economies, some of whom have been critical of Mr. Trump’s policies.

But the war in Iran has put a strain on their relationship.

In April, after that Mr. Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV’s anti-war viewsMeloni called his words “unacceptable.”

“I’m shocked by him,” the president answered in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera. “I thought you were brave, but I was wrong.”

Mr. Trump has threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy, saying the country is “not helping us at all” in the Iran war – a criticism he has made of all US NATO allies.