Italian Prime ​Minister Giorgia Meloni accused President Donald Trump of spreading fake news about her with his claim that she “begged” for a photo with him at the G7 Summit, as outrage grows among Italian officials.

“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 this week, according to La7 Italian TV channel.

Meloni, once seen as a close ally of Trump, hit back with a statement on Friday.

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up,” she said. “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.”

She then chided Trump for not showing the same “determination” in going after “enemies of the West.”

“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.

Meloni declared, “There is one thing he should remember: Neither I nor Italy ever beg.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced he has canceled a trip to the United States over Trump’s statement about the prime minister, saying Trump offended all of Italy.

“The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy. For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States scheduled for the next 21 and 22 June,” he wrote on X.

Trump had bragged that Meloni must have been “happy” he talked to her at the summit because he didn’t have to.

“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” he was quoted as saying.

Trump previously lashed out at Meloni after she called his criticism of the pope “unacceptable.”

Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary to Meloni’s office, released a statement accusing Trump of risking destroying the “historic relations” between Italy and the United States.

“It is ​unclear whether out ⁠of intent or ineptitude [Trump] is wrecking the historic relations between the United States and Europe,” the official said. “With his inappropriate outbursts, he has managed no easy feat, to make the United States unpopular across the entire European continent, damaging not ⁠only Europe ​but above all the United States.”

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