VP Pool Report #4 Meloni meeting

Pool was brought in to the meeting room at the at Prefettura di Milano at 12:59 p.m.

Vance and Meloni were standing together in the center of the room, already holding a handshake. Vance was wearing a navy blue suit and blue tie and Meloni was wearing a houndstooth pantsuit. They held their handshake for photos and then sat down in two white chairs in the center of the room. There were Italian and EU flags behind Meloni and an American flag behind Vance.

Two white couches were situated on each side. Rubio sat on one and two Italian officials sat on the other side. We are waiting to get their names.

Meloni began speaking in Italian at 1:00 p.m. After speaking for a minute she switched to English and joked that the vice president probably didn’t know what she was saying.

Vance joked that he had learned Italian since they met last.

“I was saying that I'm happy to have you here to have the occasion to talk about our wonderful bilateral relation, but also about many international topics,” Meloni said.

Meloni mentioned that the last time they met was in Rome when he was there to meet Pope Leo.

“Today we meet again for the Olympic Games,” she said.

She said they are “events that tell about values that keep together Italy and the U.S.” and “western civilization.”

While she was speaking, Ambassador Fertitta walked in at 1:02 p.m. Vance greeted him and shook his hand. Fertitta said something about how, “It’s hard to get around.” He joined Rubio on the couch.

Vance then began addressing Meloni.

“It’s so good to see you and your team, and great to be back in your beautiful country. We love Italy. We love the Italian people. And as you said, we have a lot of great relationships. We have a lot of great economic connections and partnerships,” he said.

Vance went on and said a moment later:

“You guys have done an amazing job with the Olympic Games. The city looks beautiful.”

He said his wife and he had been excited to go to the Olympics in Milan “pretty much since I became vice president.”

“You guys have done such a good job. So in the spirit of the Olympics friendship, competition—competition based on rules—and just coming together around shared values, we’re very, very thrilled to be here, and we'll have a great conversation about number of topics,” Vance said.

He stopped speaking and then Vance and Rubio ignored shouted questions from pool on talks in Iran. Pool was pulled after being in the room for four minutes total and taken back to our hotel. We have requested a readout of the rest of the meeting.

As of right now, we are not expecting any additional events on VP’s schedule to be open to pool.

Michelle L. Price

White House Reporter

The Associated Press

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