President Donald Trump said Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni “begged” him for a joint photo at this week's G7 summit in France - a claim she called “fully made up.”
The exchange shows no fences between the two erstwhile friends were mended at the leaders' meeting in Evian, France - their first known encounter since they began jousting earlier this year.
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“Probably she is happy that I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her,” Trump told Italian broadcaster La7 in comments broadcast Friday morning. “She begged me for a picture. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn't have done it, but I felt sorry for her.”
Meloni replied immediately from a European Union chiefs' summit in Brussels.
“Italy and I never beg,” Meloni said in a post on Instagram. “Some things warrant an immediate response. Trump's remarks are fully made up. I am frankly astounded. I don't know why the president of the US behaves like this with allies. It's not the first time it happens. I can only say it's regrettable he doesn't have the same determination with the enemies of the West, the enemies of the US, with leaders he's far more accommodating with.”
Trump initiated the exchange by asking the Italian journalist about Meloni, which then prompted the reporter to inquire about his impression of their meeting, according to a transcript shared by a spokesperson for La7.
“The Europeans are bad on energy and are bad on immigration, and if they don't fix it, Europe will never be the same. Probably can't fix it,” Trump added, according to La7. “Immigration is a disaster, and energy, with all those windmills, which are losers, are a disaster.”
At a press conference on Wednesday after the G7 summit, Meloni had said the rapport between the two was “unchanged.”
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“There was no need to even talk, there were no recriminations and we didn't speak about what happened in the past few weeks,” she said. “Donald Trump and I both have rather strong personalities. We defend with determination the national interest, there's no need to clear the air when we disagree on something because, in the end, we understand each other's point of view.”
Tensions were triggered earlier this year when Italy denied the US use of an air base in Sicily for combat operations in Iran and Meloni later said Trump's attacks on the pope were “unacceptable.” That prompted him to say she lacked courage and that he was “shocked” by her.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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