Did the US president call Europeans 'parasites'? Meloni jumps to Trump's rescue in viral video. Watch

Donald Trump on Thursday (Apr 18) had to be rescued by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as a journalist grilled the US President on him allegedly calling European "parasites". 

During a joint press at the White House, Trump was asked by a journalist in Italian if he had ever called Europeans "parasites".

The journalist pitched the question in Italian and was asked to repeat in English when Meloni jumped to Trump's rescue and quickly answered, "No, he never did that."

Turning to the US president, the Italian PM then asked him to confirm: "Have you ever Europeans are parasites? Have you said that?"

Promptly denying the claim, Trump answered, "I have never said that."

"I don't even know what you're talking about," he added to loud jeering, while Meloni chuckled.

A video of the interaction is going viral on social media. take a look here:

THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!!!😎🇺🇸😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/mFsDp5tcel

In March 2025, an article in The Atlantic cited messages from a leaked Signal chat. The leaked chat, which involved some high-ranking Trump administration officials, described Europeans as "parasites" in the context of discussions about the Yemen airstrike.

However, it must be noted that while his top officials had used an unsecured Signal group chat to discuss classified military plans for airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels, Trump himself not part of the "Signalgate" leaked chat. The chat included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others, raising concerns over the security of US military operations.  

In a blunder for the books, officials for inadvertently added The Atlantic magazine journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat where senior Trump administration officials were sharing plans for military strikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels.