Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise trip to Florida to meet with Donald Trump late on Saturday, as Europe’s top leader sought to strengthen ties with the president-elect ahead of his January 20 inauguration.
Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort greeted Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to videos shared on social media by reporters and others.
“This is very exciting. “I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd, according to a media group report. “She has really taken Europe by storm.”
Meloni is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition she has led in Italy since late 2022.
He has also forged a close relationship with billionaire technology CEO Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who spent more than $250 million to help him win the election.
Tommaso Foti, Italy’s EU and regional affairs minister, said on Sunday that the meeting, which had not been announced in advance, showed that Italy could act as “a diplomatic bridge between two worlds: the European Union and the United States.”
His trip comes days before he meets with President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from Thursday to January 12.
While details of their meeting have not been revealed, Meloni had planned to speak with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, according to Italian media reports.
While details of their meeting have not been revealed, Meloni had planned to speak with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, according to Italian media reports.
Trump and Meloni watched a screening of a documentary that questions the criminal investigations and legal scrutiny facing John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was instrumental in Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
One of the biggest challenges Meloni faces is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran on December 19.
Sala was detained three days after Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three. US service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.
Meloni became the latest of a handful of foreign leaders who have visited Trump in Florida since the Nov. 5 election. He has met with Argentine President Javier Milei, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
