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I still say the chances of him turning into Art Schlichter are to great to waste a pick on him.


Art Schlichter has been in formal treatment and rehabilitation programs numerous times throughout his decades-long battle with severe gambling addiction and substance abuse. Because he has cycled in and out of both medical rehabs and prison-based treatment over the last 40 years, an exact, singular number of times is not publicly documented.His history with treatment includes:Initial NFL Treatment (1984): Schlichter entered the South Oaks Hospital in New York for 30 days of inpatient treatment as part of an early NFL-mandated psychiatric help program.Post-Prison Treatment (2006): Following a 10-year prison sentence in Indiana for gambling-related crimes, he received treatment at the end of his prison stay and credited it with helping him transition back to civilian life.More Recent Interventions: Schlichter has entered specialized medical treatment and nursing facilities for medical complications related to addiction and neurological decline.Despite these numerous attempts at rehabilitation, his addiction and repeated criminal offenses (such as multi-million-dollar ticket scams and drug possession) have resulted in him spending over a decade in multiple prisons across the country.

DAILY DOUBLE

Right about what?

Dude spewed more nonsense and rhetoric about systemic climate collapse than a sci-writer could even conceive. And every one of his "apocalypse deadlines" have come and gone without him even being close to accurate.

Trump didn't want 'Herbert Hoover' presidency with Iran; said it has to have 'some' missiles
Trump said he'd start bombing again if Iran violates the agreement.

ByIsabella Murray
June 17, 2026, 9:26 PM




Trump addresses US deal with Iran at G7 summitABC News' Mary Bruce, Britt Clennett and Jon Karl report on President Donald Trump's comments made during the G7 summit in France.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was motivated to finalize the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran to prevent "economic catastrophe" if the war was not resolved soon.

"So rather than possibly going into a depression, rather than having your favorite president be Herbert Hoover, he was always the one I didn't want to be," Trump said of the 31st president whose policies are often blamed for starting the Great Depression.

"I didn't want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened. But all I know is, every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship," Trump said during a press conference Wednesday on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Évian, France.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference, during the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 17, 2026.
President Donald Trump, flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, speaks during a press conference, during the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 17, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Trump's comments about the economic impact of making a deal came as he focused the majority of the press conference on the somewhat vague details and timing related to the agreement between the United States and Iran that the U.S. says was signed Wednesday night in France.

The president's lengthy press conference happened at the same time that senior U.S. officials read the agreement aloud to reporters, though the president did not relay specifics of the deal in his remarks. The White House has not published the text of the agreement.

Throughout the press conference, the president toggled between characterizing the deal as "historic" and "strong" but also leaving the door open to future bombing of Iran if the regime didn't properly adhere to the agreement.

"If it doesn't get done in 60 days, it's all right. We go back to bombing. You know, I don't want to do that because it's so good. But, we might have to because we're never going to let them have a nuclear weapon, but they've agreed not to. And you'll see that very clearly in the agreement," Trump said.

Related
Iran live updates
Trump also said he was open to allowing Iran to maintain its stockpile of ballistic missiles, claiming it was "unfair" for Iran to not be able to have the weapons if their neighbors do.

Trump suggested that he has a hard time articulating to the Iranians that they cannot have ballistic missiles -- because their Gulf neighbors like Saudi Arabia have them.

"We'll be working on a parallel effort with the Gulf nations to address non-nuclear issues, such as the conventional ballistic missiles," Trump said.


"I mean, they have to have some because other people have some. You've got to have some," Trump went on: "'Sir, you shouldn't let them have any missiles.' I said, 'Well, what am I going to do? I'm going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can't have them?' 'Yes, sir.' It can't -- doesn't work that way," Trump said.


President Donald Trump addresses the media during a closing press conference at the G7 summit, in Evian, France, June 17, 2026.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo
Later on Wednesday, Trump doubled down on his suggestion that Iran could have its ballistic missiles, saying: "If other countries have them, it's a little bit unfair for [Iran] not to have some."

"A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we're talking about when we talk nuclear, but if Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say in relative proportion, I think it's OK. That's what I mean," Trump said.

The president also argued on Wednesday that the memorandum "doesn't have to" have specific terms detailing punishments for Iran if they were to get a nuclear weapon -- that the U.S. would just continue bombing the country if they develop or obtain one.

"Does it have to be?" Trump said, when asked whether there was anything enforceable in the agreement surrounding the nuclear agreements.

"I let him know. I said, 'Look, if you don't adhere to the agreement, I don't want to do that, but we're going to bomb the hell out of you,' and I don't think that they're going to veer from the agreement," Trump went on.

"What else am I going to do? Am I going to say, 'I'm going to take you to court? Let me take you to court. Let me, just let me sue you.' No, we're going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement. I don't want them to. I want them to honor the agreement again. The streets close up, bad things can happen. You're in war, terrible things happen," he said.

And despite his insistence that the memorandum states that Iran cannot develop or obtain a nuclear weapon -- one of his chief concerns during negotiations, Trump also appeared softer during the press conference on Wednesday in his position on whether Iran could develop a nuclear program for civilian purposes in the future.

"I've said to them always, I say, 'Look, you have probably the third-largest oil reserves in the world. What the hell do you need nuclear for?' You need nuclear for some electricity, some. So I've always felt that way. So, we've been pretty tough on that," Trump began, when asked if Iran comes back to the U.S. after the signing of the deal and asks to continue their civilian nuclear program.

He again claimed that Iran could develop the program because neighboring states were also doing so.

"You know, it's also, it is a little hard though when you say that somebody wants---other people have it, other adjoining states have it and you're not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. It's always a little tough. You have to use a little common sense," Trump added.

https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-herbert-hoover-presidency-iran-missiles/story?id=133979678

Trump Says U.S. Has To Keep Netanyahu ‘A Little Bit Sane’

President Donald Trump told Axios that Israel respects him and “they do as I say,” but that the U.S. has to keep Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a little bit sane.”

“If it weren’t for Donald Trump, Israel would have been eviscerated,” he said in an interview released Friday.

“It’s good,” he said when asked about their relationship amid the war with Iran, “but we have to keep him a little bit, uh, sane.”

He added that he believes he’ll be able to keep Israel from attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon as part of a preliminary peace agreement with Iran, saying: “They have a lot of respect for me, and they do as I say.”

The interview was released hours after Israel launched fresh attacks overnight in Lebanon, straining certainty on whether a lasting peace deal could be achieved. A ceasefire was later announced.

Trump on Wednesday said he thinks Netanyahu "gets a little excited sometimes" and “could do better with respect to Hezbollah.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/late...oJ&brid=YWdncwGwvQ_uMKpaGO3_6nDUce52

Israel and Hezbollah agree to a ceasefire after intensified fighting threatens Iran talks

President Donald Trump told NBC News that he asked Israel to agree to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, after deadly Israeli attacks in Lebanon rattled planned Iran peace talks.

Israel and militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire Friday, after a deadly escalation between the two in Lebanon looked set to derail Washington-Tehran peace talks in Switzerland.

President Donald Trump told NBC News in a phone call Friday afternoon that he spoke with Israel and asked them to agree to a ceasefire.

“It’s a positive,” he said, adding: “It’s a little icing on the cake.” He declined to specify whether he had talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly.

An official Hezbollah source tells NBC News that the group will abide by the ceasefire but that the Israelis are still firing and trying to move deeper into Lebanese territory. Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said Israel was “firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” and has halted offensive operations.

The intensified strikes came days after an interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed, stipulating that all fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, must end immediately.

U.S. spy agencies believe Israel will likely continue to launch attacks on Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, potentially jeopardizing a tentative peace deal between the United States and Iran, according to a source with knowledge of the intelligence assessments.

The intelligence reporting comes amid a growing public rift between Netanyahu’s government and the Trump administration over the memorandum of understanding announced this week aimed at ending the war between the U.S. and Iran.

Netanyahu and officials in his government have criticized the deal and said that Israel is not bound by the MOU.

The new intelligence assessment finds that Netanyahu’s calculations are based on his view of the threat posed by Hezbollah and the need to counter that threat, even if it risks derailing the memorandum, the source said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized the need to disarm Hezbollah in a phone call with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday, according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott. The two also discussed planned talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington from Tuesday through Thursday next week, Pigott said.

On Friday, Tehran and Washington were set to sit down for their first negotiations on a lasting conclusion to the war started by the U.S. and Israel in late February. But the new Israeli strikes in Lebanon cast doubts on the deal to end the war, and Vice President JD Vance canceled his planned travel to Switzerland for the talks.

Set to take place in the Bürgenstock mountain resort in the Swiss Alps, the negotiations were temporarily postponed following the deadly Israeli attacks, a regional diplomat with knowledge of the situation told NBC News.

Tehran asked for guarantees that hostilities in Lebanon would end, as outlined in the deal signed with Washington, and mediators were working to resolve the issue, the diplomat said.

The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed early Friday that the planned talks would not take place. The meeting was supposed to have included Qatar and Pakistan.

“Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks,” it said in a statement, adding that “relevant preparatory work” in Bürgenstock is continuing.

Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said the Friday meeting in Switzerland was no longer urgent because the agreement has already been signed, adding that another meeting was planned in the coming days.

Trump told NBC News that he expects Vice President Vance to end up going to Switzerland for peace talks at some point.

“I think he’s going to end up going back,” he said. “Steve Witkoff is going separately. I think JD’s going a little bit later.”

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Vance defended the deal with Iran and stressed that Israel had to “respect this peace process that is fundamentally good for them and good for the entire region.”

He also hit out at Israeli critics of the agreement.

“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time,” Vance said. “If I was in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”

Vance had said that the U.S. expected Israel not to “be going wild in Lebanon,” but said any continued “flare-ups” with Hezbollah would have to be managed through the diplomatic process.

In Lebanon, Israel said it targeted Hezbollah across the south of the country overnight and early Friday. Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 47 people in Lebanon since midnight, the country’s health ministry reported.

The Israeli military said that four of its soldiers were killed, including a senior commander, and another five injured. Hezbollah also reported fighting in the area.

Earlier, Netanyahu said he instructed the military to strike Hezbollah “with force” following the deaths of the soldiers, which he called “a blatant violation of the ceasefire.”

Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to protect its northern communities, he added. The Israeli military said later Friday that it had conducted more than 150 strikes in Lebanon since midnight, and its spokesperson Effie Defrin said the Israeli forces on the ground have “full operational freedom.”

Hezbollah accused Israel of never adhering to a ceasefire or the deal that Trump signed, which called for the immediate end of all fighting, including in Lebanon, where a number of agreements between Israel and Lebanon’s government have failed to halt strikes.

Iran has warned that it would not abide by the agreement with the United States if Israel, which has not been part of talks and did not sign the deal, continues its campaign in Lebanon.

Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s national security commission, said Friday that Iran must not allow “the resistant people of southern Lebanon to be massacred.” Meanwhile, Iran’s army warned that it had its hand “on the trigger” and was ready “in the event of any enemy breach of commitments.”

On Thursday, Israel published a map with an expanded ​military control zone in southern Lebanon and said it would not rule out more attacks beyond it.

The 14-point memorandum of understanding agreed to by the U.S. and Iran calls for an immediate end to “military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” as well as “ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.”

The pact also stipulates that the key Strait of Hormuz trading route will be reopened after months of disruption for the global economy, but particularly oil and gas markets.

Brent crude steadied Friday but remained set for a more than 8% weekly decline given news of the deal.

An NBC News analysis of marine traffic through the crucial waterway revealed a trickle of ships traveling through the strait Thursday and into Friday, as two Chinese and two Hong Kong-owned ships, and a Japanese crude oil tanker, left the Persian Gulf, where they had been stuck since February.

The authority Iran has established to manage the strait issued new guidelines for vessels Friday, saying it won’t be charging any fees during the 60-day negotiation process, but a transit request must be submitted 48 hours before arrival. Iran would waive “tariffs for security, safety and environmental services” during the period, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority said in an advisory.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/...s-trip-israel-strikes-lebanon-rcna350830

This is what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket .. Dolans are just to cheap .. If they would just go out and pay for one legitimate bat ! God for bid two //

If you do not look at people's actions as showing who they are we weren't raised the same way I was. I didn't say anything negative about you or the way you were raised. Just that it must have been different.

If you believe otherwise please show where I said anything about "the way you were raised" other than it being "different than myself". You can't because that never happened.

Calm the hell down and stop writing some narrative in your own head that was never there to begin with.



The evidence speaks for itself. His actions have shown who he is. For most that evidence alone would be enough.

Maybe if you stopped thinking everything said is some attack on you as a person that may help.

Shut your mouth about me and how I was raised.

Either discuss something properly or stfu.

This is simple. Investigate and find out.

Or hope the Steelers don't end up with a stud who beats us like a drum.

Every team in the market will check this guy out.

So actions don't tell you about the person? I suppose we were raised differently.

I am not talking about the bets.

I am talking about Sorsby the person.

US push to get Iran talks started hits an early bump. Vance stays at home, for now

ZURICH (AP) — The American push to quickly begin high-stakes talks with Iran hit a snag Friday, just days after the signing of an agreement that opens a two-month window for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and returning oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to prewar levels.

Iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, insisting that Israeli strikes on Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon must stop before the talks can take place, according to three regional officials and a person familiar with the matter. They were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing mediation to try to get the talks rescheduled and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The situation was fluid as Israel and Hezbollah agreed on Friday to renew their ceasefire, according to a U.S. official and regional officials. It remains to be seen whether that could help put the U.S.-Iran talks back on track.

In Washington, President Donald Trump lashed out once again in the midst of the intensified fighting in Lebanon and the stalled nuclear talks.

“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did,” Trump wrote in a social media post Friday. “They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”

Vance was ready for Swiss talks

Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, had been prepared to make an overnight flight to meet with his Iranian counterparts at a mountainside resort in the tiny Swiss village of Obbürgen and begin the technical talks.

Vance’s staff and a small group of journalists had gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip. Dozens of White House officials, advance staffers and more media were already in Switzerland.

Then the trip was called off — abruptly and for the time being.

A White House statement said Vance, tapped by Trump to lead the negotiations, decided to postpone his travel. It made no mention of the escalating violence in Lebanon.

“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement said.

But, according to officials, the Iranians made clear to the White House that they had balked at starting the talks with Vance because of the Israeli action in Lebanon.

While Iranian officials and Vance did not make it to Switzerland Friday, a mediator from the Gulf country of Qatar found his way to the resort near Lucerne, Switzerland, where the U.S.-Iran talks are to be held. Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with the Swiss foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis.

Fighting in southern Lebanon intensifies

The fighting had intensified with at least 18 killed by Israeli airstrikes, while four Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military would stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as “Israel’s security needs require it.”

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the U.S.-Iran agreement.

Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal does not explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”

Hours before postponing his trip, Vance gave some indication of the state of flux when he told reporters at a White House briefing that he was uncertain if the talks were going to happen this weekend.

“We think these technical negotiations start sometime this weekend,” Vance said. “That’s still the plan. But that could change.”

Soon after Vance spoke to reporters, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, endorsed direct negotiations with the United States. His terse statement, read by state media, appeared to signal to the Islamic Republic’s leadership that it could move forward with a first round of talks.

“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” Khamenei said.

The messaging seemed to give Khamenei, who was badly wounded in the U.S. strike on Feb. 28 that killed his father, some maneuverability. Hard-liners in the Iranian government, including Khamenei’s father, long opposed direct talks with the White House, especially after Trump, during his first term, pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration.

The meeting was initially supposed to be a signing ceremony

Vance was initially expected to go to Switzerland to sign the agreement at a formal ceremony. Instead, Trump signed the document Wednesday during a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles with French President Emmanuel Macron. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, separately signed the agreement.

It says Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble left by U.S. military strikes last year targeting Tehran’s key nuclear sites, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision.

It also says Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment Tehran has made previously. Other commitments remain to be worked out.

Iran believes it’s in a strong negotiating position

Iranians would be going into the talks with a measure of confidence after effectively shutting down the strait, causing global economic reverberations, said Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities in Washington.

She said the U.S. is now “essentially trying to negotiate our way back to the prewar status quo.”

Neil Quilliam, an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House think tank, said the “buoyant” Iranian leadership feels it has the upper hand. The endorsement of the talks by the Iranian supreme leader “sends a very strong signal domestically: ’We’re now on an equal footing with the U.S.’”

”‘Trump has gone from calling for regime change on Feb. 28 to this: Now they’re going to sit down with us directly and talk about these big issues,’” Quilliam said of the Iranians’ thinking. “So it’s intended more for the domestic audience, and telling them: ‘We are firmly in control of this. There can be no protests, no revolution: We are a new regime and we’re staying put.’”

Vance has to negotiate through political division

For Vance, a likely 2028 presidential contender, how the negotiations play out could have enormous ramifications for his political fortunes.

Vance’s skepticism of foreign wars was a core part of his political identity during his political rise, which included election as a U.S. senator. Now he finds himself the chief defender of negotiating an endgame to Trump’s conflict that Democrats have largely derided as a foolish gambit. Some hawkish Republicans are aghast that Trump is getting behind a settlement that could put billions of dollars into Iran’s coffers.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said aspects of the deal are “completely out of step” with Trump’s goals.

Trump fiercely criticized Obama for the 2015 nuclear agreement, which Trump argued failed to stop Tehran from advancing toward a weapon and funneled billions of dollars to the Islamic Republic. The Republican president exited the U.S. from the deal in 2018.

Trump has pushed back against comparisons to that earlier agreement, saying he had “negotiated from strength” after a major military campaign while asserting that Obama was paying the Iranians off and not receiving acquiescence.

Wicker, R-Miss., was particularly concerned about the $300 billion fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran mentioned in the 14-point agreement. Trump and Vance have said no U.S. taxpayer money would go to such a fund and it would not come without concessions and reforms by Tehran.

https://apnews.com/article/vance-trump-iran-switzerland-aee3839175b47b0b469879cfb835dce7

I do not see the Browns being interested in Sorsby. Like Bonefish said he will redshirt in 2026. Taylon Green is already the Browns redshirt QB in 2026. Yes, Green is a longshot but there is enough there to be interested.

Excuse me? Are you saying he didn't make multiple bets on his own team? Dear Lord man. Some teams who are stable in their HC, system and are winning teams maybe. But in our situation the very idea of this is crazy.

Yes, court filings and stipulated facts submitted to the NCAA established that former Indiana and Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby placed thousands of impermissible bets totaling at least $90,000.

Sorsby admitted to placing more than 9,000 wagers across his college career, routing at least $60,000 through friends' and relatives' betting accounts.

While a freshman at Indiana in 2022, he placed at least 40 wagers on his own team and specific players, totaling over $850.

His gambling spanned multiple schools (Indiana, Cincinnati, and Texas Tech) and included bets on collegiate basketball, MLB, NBA, and golf.


I can give you verifiable links to all of that information. Tainted or inaccurate?

We can speculate till the cows come home.

We don't know Sorsby. By the time you read something about him it is tainted or inaccurate.

The Browns like all teams looking for a quarterback will look hard.

It is important to at least check him out.

We have nothing on the roster at risk. Sorsby would do little more than watch and work behind the scenes.

He would not be in any competition.

I for one do not want to look back and find out that he turns out to be great.

And we sit around going "I wish we would have."

We risk nothing by checking him out thoroughly.

We don't have to do a thing other than that.

Rule #1 don't go to war unless you can go "All in"

See Vietnam...

Trump was unwilling to remove the mine in the strait, so this was his only option...

Dumb... he cant win at tic-tac-toe let alone checkers...

It is always inconvenient to recognize that Al Gore was correct... That move has been fairly accurate.

We have three QB's on the roster that were drafted either last year or this year. We have a new HC installing an entire new O to the team. There is no reward worth the risk of bringing in a possible cancer into that situation you have deemed is worth no more than a fourth round pick. If there is any actual "process" involved that should be at the top of the list.

I get it. Some people are so desperate for a QB that no risk seems too high for them. Rather than develop a QB they think the Browns should have to fix him too from a gambling addiction who has shown he makes poor choices. He was willing to put his entire future on the line to gamble. Maybe that can be fixed and maybe it can't. Obsessive behavior and an addictive personality are often times beyond fixing. And no "process" will or can tell you how that will turn out.

I just hope cooler, more logical heads will prevail.

I'll take "some people are naive enough to believe trump's hand picked Intelligence officials" for $1000, Alex.

Hush now. Iran is closed for renovations when completed there will be a ballroom built that will be called mar a largo trump memorial ballroom.

the art of deal by ayatollah.

How low will he go...?

https://people.com/italian-pm-giorg...t-she-begged-for-photo-with-him-12003115


Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Says She's 'Frankly Astonished' by Trump's 'Made Up' Story That She 'Begged' for Photo with Him

"Neither I nor Italy ever beg," Meloni said in a video shared on social media

By Rachel Raposas Published on June 19, 2026 11:56AM EDT

NEED TO KNOW
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Donald Trump's claim that she "begged" for a photo at the G7 Summit "completely fabricated"

"Neither I nor Italy ever beg," Meloni said in a video shared on social media
Following Trump's comments, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled his U.S. trip, saying Trump's remarks "offend all of Italy"

Giorgia Meloni has fired back at Donald Trump's claim that she "begged" him for a photo at the G7 Summit.

On Friday, June 19, the Italian Prime Minister denounced the United States president's claim that she'd urged him to take a photo with her during this week's G7 Summit as "completely fabricated." In a video shared to X, Meloni conveyed both her and Italy's offense to Trump's claims.

“I am frankly stunned,” she said in Italian. “I don't know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his own allies. After all, this isn't the first time this has happened.”

“I can only say it is regrettable that he does not show the same determination against the enemies of the West and the United States—against leaderships with whom he actually proves to be much more accommodating," she continued.

“There is one thing he must remember," Meloni concluded. "Neither I nor Italy ever beg."

The Italian Prime Minister's rebuke comes after Trump told Italian broadcaster La7 that Meloni "begged me to take a photo with her — I could have skipped it, but I felt sorry for her," NBC News reported. He added, "She's probably happy I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her."

Meloni wasn't the only Italian politician apparently offended by Trump's comments. Just before the prime minister posted the video on social media, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani shared on X that he was canceling his planned trip to the U.S. this weekend.

In the statement, Tajani noted that the U.S. president had angered Italy as a whole.

"President Trump's serious and offensive remarks about Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy," Tajani wrote. "For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States scheduled for June 21st and 22nd."

There's a history of friction between Trump and Meloni, especially in recent years. Earlier in April, Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV's anti-war comments after Trump verbally attacked the religious figure, and called the U.S. president's statements "unacceptable." Trump responded of Meloni, "It's her who's unacceptable," because she wouldn't support the U.S. war in Iran.

However, in October 2025, while speaking at the Gaza summit in Egypt, Trump went on an awkward tangent about Meloni's appearance, repeatedly calling her "beautiful."

"Where is she ... there she is," Trump said, looking at Meloni. "You don't mind being called beautiful, right? You are."

Italy's Meloni says Trump 'totally invented' story that she begged him for photo


By Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer
Fri, June 19, 2026 at 7:37 AM EDT3 min read

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/italy-nixes-envoys-visit-leader-133727579.html

ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused her one-time close ally Donald Trump of fabricating a story about her on Friday, after the U.S. President told an Italian TV channel that ‌she had "begged" him to take a photo with her at a G7 summit.

Meloni said she was "astonished" by his comments, which ‌were "completely made up". She also chided him for acting with far greater deference to the enemies of the West than he does towards old, established allies.

Underscoring how much ​Trump's comments have angered Meloni's government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced he was cancelling a planned visit to the U.S. next week.

The latest exchange marks a sharp deterioration in ties, coming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had steadied a previously strained relationship following tensions this year over the war on Iran.

Video from the event in France showed Meloni and Trump deep in conversation, ‌sitting side-by-side on a small sofa, but the ⁠U.S. leader suggested he had merely indulged her by chatting with her.

"She's probably happy I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her," Trump was quoted as saying by La7 TV channel in a ⁠brief interview, after he himself asked the journalist about Italy's prime minister.

"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, according to La7's translation.

The channel did not release the ​original ​audio, just a dubbed version.

MELONI HITS BACK IN SHARPLY WORDED STATEMENT

I'll wait for the dust to settle. But it appears to be heading to a place where this whole thing was a giant waste of time, money and lives. And where the agreement will be worse than the one in place that trump nixed.

Oh and we tanked the economy too. Not just in the USA. Oh and we pushed Western allies even further away.

Winning.

And people will stump for this and claim it was somehow a success.

I'll take 'Things Everyone Knew But Many Refused To Accept' for 1000, Alex"

It doesn't mean you draft him.

It means it is worth making sure you don't miss that the guy could be worth a 4th round chance.

If you trust the analysis and process and come to a risk/reward conclusion.