Italy's Giorgia Meloni's side-eye goes viral as she's seated next to Trump during crunch talks
Meloni and Merz were among the European leaders who flew to Washington to back up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was receiving a debrief from Trump after the president's meeting Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump is attempting to end the war in Ukraine.
During his Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, Trump stated that a ceasefire deal wasn't necessary ahead of a broader peace agreement.
Afterward, Zelensky and the other European leaders gathered around a table in the East Room for a meeting.
Merz - and later French President Emmanuel Macron - pressed Trump on the ceasefire issue.
'Let's try and put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of this effort, these efforts we are undertaking today, are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations, from next stop on,' Merz told Trump.
Between Merz and the American president sat Meloni - who was captured on camera making several odd expressions with her eyes as the German chancellor went on.
'So I would like to emphasize this aspect and would like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting, wherever it takes place,' Merz said.
Last month Meloni got called out for dramatically rolling her eyes amid a conversation with Macron at the G7 in Canada.
A year before, at the G7, she got caught rolling her eyes after then President Joe Biden was late for the third day in a row.
The 48-year-old has served as the prime minister of Italy since October 2022 - a particularly lengthy time for an Italian leader.
She came into office as a far-right conservative and thus is more politically aligned with Republican Trump than some of her European counterparts.
Going around the table, Trump called Meloni 'a really great leader and an inspiration over there.'
'She's served now, even though she's a very young person, she's served there for a long period of time relative to others,' the president marveled. 'They don't last very long,' he laughed.
'You've lasted a long time. You're going to be there a long time,' Trump said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) speaks to the press at the top of a meeting in the East Room Monday hosted by President Donald Trump (right) and attended by European leaders including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) and French President Emmanuel Macron (center)
The friendly banter continued as the press exited.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb watched as reporters shouted questions toward Trump, Zelensky and the leaders as they were ushered out by White House wranglers.
'You do this every day?' Stubb asked Trump.
'All the time,' the U.S. president answered.
Meloni then interjected.
'But he loves it, he loves it,' she said dramatically, then adding how she doesn't like engaging with the Italian press.
Trump then told Meloni that Stubbs was a 'very good golfer, you know.'
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