Trump hosts Italian Prime Minister Meloni at Mar-a-Lago

Vernon Silver, Annmarie Hordern and Donato Paolo Mancini, Bloomberg News on Jan 4, 2025

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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew Saturday to Florida and met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Meloni’s visit comes days before she is scheduled to receive President Joe Biden, who begins a trip to Rome and the Vatican on Jan. 9, in what will likely be his final presidential mission overseas.

Trump walked in to a movie screening at his resort with Meloni and pointed her out to a crowd.

“This is very exciting, I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy. She’s really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else, and we’re just having dinner tonight.”

Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, called Meloni a “great ally, strong leader.”

Foreign leaders who have visited Trump since the election include Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, President Javier Milei of Argentina and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.

The meeting could be an opportunity to address the case of Cecilia Sala, the Italian journalist detained by Iran last month.

(Flavia Krause-Jackson and Annmarie Hordern contributed to this report)