Italy's Meloni fires back after Trump says she 'begged' for photo | DW News

And finally, U .S.President Trump has claimed that earlier this week at the G7 summit Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, begged to have a picture taken with him.And that has turned Bella Italia into angry Italia.Trump made the comment in a telephone interview broadcast Friday morning on an Italian TV network.Trump said that he wasn't obliged to take a photo, but that he felt sorry for her and that he agreed.

The broadcaster only has a dubbed version of the interview online, not the original English audio.And Maloney responded by blasting Trump on social media.

Certain things merit an immediate reply.Donald Trump's declarations are completely fabricated.I am frankly stunned.I don't know why the U .S.president behaves this way towards his own allies.

After all, this isn't the first time this has happened.I can only say that it's a shame he doesn't show the same resolve towards the enemies of the West, towards the enemies of the United States, towards leaders with whom he is, on the other hand, much more accommodating.But there's one thing he must remember.Italy and I do not.

And by Friday afternoon, solidarity with Maloney had poured in from across the political spectrum and included a call from President Sergio Mattarella.Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani posted on X that Trump's comments were an insult to Italy and that he'd cancelled a planned visit to the U .S.Giovanni Battista Fazzolari, an undersecretary to the Prime Minister's office, posted a statement saying, He went on to say,to make the U .S.

unpopular across the entire European continent, damaging not only Europe, but above all, the U .S.The row marks a dramatic deterioration in a relationship that, until recently, was seen as one of the strongest links between the Trump White House and Europe.Maloney was the only European Union leader to attend Trump's second inauguration, and had presented herself as a bridge between Washington and Brussels.But policy differences, they've strained that relationship in recent months.Maloney opposed the U .

S.-led military campaign against Iran, and has continued to strongly back Ukraine, putting her at odds with Trump's approach.This latest clash marks possibly the final transformation from Maloney the Trump whisperer to Maloney the Trump basher.