Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida on Saturday to meet US President-elect Donald Trump, as the prominent European leader sought to strengthen ties with Trump ahead of his inauguration on January 20.
According to video shared on social media by reporters and others, members of the public at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort welcomed Meloni with applause after the president-elect’s introduction.
His visit comes days before he is scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden during his visit to Rome from Thursday to January 12. Trump defeated Biden in the November election and is preparing for his return to the White House.
According to Italian media reports, although no details were given about their meeting, Meloni spoke with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran. Had planned to talk.
Meloni’s office declined to comment on the reports.
He is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump, given his conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition he leads in Italy. He has also forged a close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help him win the election.
“This is very exciting. I’m here with a wonderful woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd, according to a media pool report. “He has really taken Europe by storm.”
Trump and Meloni then sat down for a screening of a documentary that raised questions about the criminal investigation and legal scrutiny faced by Trump’s former lawyer John Eastman, who was at the center of Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Were.
One of the biggest challenges facing Meloni is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran in December. 19.
Salah was detained three days after Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested on a US warrant at Milan’s Malpensa airport on charges of supplying drone parts, which Washington says could be used in the 2023 war. The attack was carried out in Jordan killing three US service members. Iran has denied any involvement in the attack.
Iranian state media reported that on Friday Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador over Abedini’s detention.
Meloni is the latest among a handful of foreign leaders who have met with Trump in Florida following the Nov. 5 election. He has met Argentine President Javier Meili, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
