WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida to fulfill with President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, as the important thing European chief sought to buttress ties with Trump earlier than his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort welcomed Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, in line with movies shared on social media by reporters and others.
Her journey comes days earlier than she is to fulfill U.S. President Joe Biden throughout a go to to Rome from Thursday to Jan. 12. Trump defeated Biden within the November election and making ready his return to the White Home.
Whereas no particulars of their assembly have been disclosed, Meloni had deliberate to speak with Trump about Russia’s struggle in Ukraine, commerce points, the Center East and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, in line with Italian media stories.
Meloni’s workplace declined to touch upon the stories.
She is seen as a probably robust associate for Trump given her conservative credentials and the steadiness of the right-wing coalition she heads in Italy. She has additionally solid a detailed relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a detailed Trump ally who spent greater than a quarter-billion {dollars} to assist him win the election.
“This is very exciting. I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump instructed the Mar-a-Lago crowd, in line with a media pool report. “She’s really taken Europe by storm.”
Trump and Meloni then sat down for a screening of a documentary questioning the prison investigations and authorized scrutiny confronted by John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was central to Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
One of many greatest challenges dealing with Meloni is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran on Dec. 19.
Sala was detained three days after Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone components that Washington says have been utilized in a 2023 assault that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement within the assault.
On Friday, Iran’s international ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador over Abedini’s detention, Iranian state media reported.
Meloni turned the newest within the handful of international leaders who’ve visited Trump in Florida for the reason that Nov. 5 election. He has met with Argentinian President Javier Milei, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.