00:00Mr. President, can you clarify what you meant with your social media post yesterday with respect to Prime Minister Maloney,
00:07that true social post with the restraining order?
00:09I don't know, I think she's a nice person, actually. We had a bad relationship, but it became a little
00:15bad because she refused to help us. Again, I didn't put a heavy press on her.
00:20But she refused to get involved with the hormonal strain. Or you could also say just Iran. She refused to
00:29get involved. So it soured my relationship with her a little bit. But I like it. I think she's a
00:35nice person, actually. But I think she made a mistake.
00:37You know, they get a lot of their oil from them. We don't get any oil. We have a lot
00:41of oil. The United States has more oil than anybody. And when you add Venezuela to it, it's like we
00:47have far more oil than anybody. We don't need the restraints. We do this because we think it's an important
00:52thing to do.
00:54But she just wasn't there for us. And I wasn't happy about that. You can imagine, I wasn't happy about
01:01that.
01:07Italy just took its first concrete diplomatic action against the United States and Trump. And it happened fast.
01:16Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taggiani has officially canceled his visit to Washington, scheduled for the 21st and 22nd of June,
01:25a trip that was supposed to happen in days.
01:28The reason, in his own words, was direct and unambiguous. Taggiani said,
01:35The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Georgia Maloney offend all of Italy.
01:43For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States.
01:48Read that again.
02:02Now, let's put this in full context.
02:05This all began at the G7 summit in Evian, France just days ago.
02:10Trump and Maloney were seen together multiple times.
02:14Photographs showed them in close conversation on a sofa.
02:17Maloney was smiling.
02:18The optics were warm.
02:20After the summit, Maloney told reporters the relationship was unchanged.
02:26No problems, no recriminations.
02:28Then, Trump gave a phone interview to Italian channel La7 and said Maloney had begged him for a photograph, that
02:36he felt sorry for her, that she was probably happy he even spoke to her.
02:41Maloney went to Instagram immediately.
02:447 million followers.
02:46She said she was frankly stunned.
02:48She said neither she nor Italy ever beg.
02:52And she fired a pointed warning at Trump, saying he should show the same determination towards enemies of the West
02:59that he shows towards his own allies.
03:02That was the verbal response.
03:05This, the cancellation of Taggiani's trip, is the diplomatic response.
03:10And the significance of that cannot be overstated.
03:14Taggiani is not a junior official.
03:17He is Italy's top diplomat.
03:19His visit to Washington would have covered bilateral ties, trade, NATO commitments, and the broader transatlantic relationship.
03:27Pulling that visit on this short of notice over this kind of public insult is Rome sending a message through
03:35actions, not just words.
03:37And the message is clear, there are consequences to humiliating an ally on television.
03:43But zoom out for a moment, because this is part of a much larger pattern.
03:49Maloney was once Trump's closest European ally.
03:52She attended his inauguration.
03:54She was the bridge between Washington and a deeply skeptical European Union.
03:59That bridge has been cracking for months.
04:02First, Trump called her cowardly for opposing his war with Iran.
04:07Then she defended Pope Leo XIV when Trump attacked him.
04:11And now, this, a public claim that she begged for a photograph, followed by a canceled diplomatic visit, followed by
04:19an entire nation, across every political party, closing ranks against Washington.
04:26Italy is not a small voice.
04:28It is a G7 nation, a NATO ally, a country at the heart of Europe.
04:34And right now, that country is telling Trump, enough.
04:38The question tonight is whether Washington is even listening, because from the pattern we have seen, Trump does not tend
04:46to back down from these moments.
04:48And if he doesn't, this diplomatic rupture between supposed allies is only going to get deeper.
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