there is no limit to how low trump will go.
nothing he does or says surprises me. in fact anything attached to his name is expected.
Italy's Meloni says Trump 'totally invented' story that she begged him for photo
By Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer
Fri, June 19, 2026 at 7:37 AM EDT3 min read
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/italy-nixes-envoys-visit-leader-133727579.htmlROME, June 19 (Reuters) - 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. President told an Italian TV channel that she had "begged" him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.
Meloni said she was "astonished" by his comments, which were "completely made up". She also chided him for acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.
Underscoring how much Trump's comments have angered Meloni's government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced he was cancelling a planned visit to the U.S. next week.
The latest exchange marks a sharp deterioration in ties, coming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a previously strained relationship following tensions this year over the war on Iran.
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.
"She's probably happy I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her," Trump was quoted as saying by La7 TV channel in a brief interview, after he himself asked the journalist about Italy's prime minister.
"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," Trump said, according to La7's translation.
The channel did not release the original audio, just a dubbed version.
MELONI HITS BACK IN SHARPLY WORDED STATEMENT
