{"id":3449,"date":"2026-06-20T10:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2026-06-20T00:21:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:21:57","slug":"italys-meloni-says-trump-totally-invented-story-that-she-begged-him-for-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3449","title":{"rendered":"Italy&#8217;s Meloni says Trump \u201ctotally invented\u201d story that she begged him for photo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her on Friday, after the U.S. \u200cPresident told an Italian TV channel that she had &#8220;begged&#8221; him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meloni said she was &#8220;astonished&#8221; by his comments, which were &#8220;completely made up&#8221;. She also chided him for acting with far greater deference \u200cto the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Burna Boy - Higher [Official Music Video]\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eKzmRnetw-c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Underscoring \u2060how much Trump&#8217;s comments have angered Meloni&#8217;s government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani \u2060announced he was cancelling \u2060a planned visit to the U.S. next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest exchange marks a sharp deterioration in ties, \u200ccoming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a \u2060previously strained relationship following tensions this year over the \u2060war on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video from the event in France showed Meloni and Trump deep in conversation, sitting side-by-side on a small sofa, but the U.S. leader suggested he had merely indulged her by chatting with her.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She&#8217;s probably happy I talked to her. I didn&#8217;t have to talk \u2060to her,&#8221; Trump was quoted as saying by La7 TV channel in a brief interview, after \u2060he himself asked the journalist about Italy&#8217;s prime \u200cminister.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn&#8217;t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,&#8221; Trump said, according to La7&#8217;s translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The channel did not release the original audio, just a dubbed version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meloni responded: &#8220;Donald \u200cTrump&#8217;s statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don&#8217;t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I can only say 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,&#8221; she said, adding: &#8220;There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Announcing the cancellation of his planned U.S. trip, Foreign Minister Tajani said on X: &#8220;The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend the whole of Italy.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/world\/italy's-meloni-says-trump-'totally-invented'-story-that-she-begged-him-for-photo\">(JapanToday)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her on Friday, after the U.S. \u200cPresident told an Italian TV channel that she had &#8220;begged&#8221; him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit. Meloni said she was &#8220;astonished&#8221; by his comments, which were &#8220;completely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[3540,55,3541,3350,131,57],"class_list":["post-3449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign","tag-antonio-tajani-","tag-donald-trump","tag-g7-summit","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-italy","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Italy&#039;s Meloni says Trump \u201ctotally invented\u201d story that she begged him for photo - Tona Today<\/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:\/\/tona.today\/?p=3449\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Italy&#039;s Meloni says Trump \u201ctotally invented\u201d story that she begged him for photo - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her on Friday, after the U.S. \u200cPresident told an Italian TV channel that she had &#8220;begged&#8221; him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit. 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