ROME, 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 accused him of acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.
The latest exchange marks
a sharp deterioration in ties, coming just days after signs at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a previously strained relationship following tensions this year over the war in Iran.
Video from the event in France showed Meloni and Trump deep in conversation, 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 responded: "Donald Trump's statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don't know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover."
"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," she said, adding: "There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg."
Meloni was once a vocal supporter of Trump and the only European leader to attend his inauguration in 2025.
However, she later criticised the U.S. president for lashing out at Pope Leo over his condemnation of the Iran conflict, distancing herself from Trump after the war began. That prompted a blunt rebuke from the U.S. leader, who accused her of lacking courage.
(Reporting by Angelo AmanteEditing by Crispian Balmer and Peter Graff)
