Trump finds kindred European spirit in Meloni
CNN
It took Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni exactly two sentences in the Oval Office on Thursday to signal to her host she was a kindred spirit.
It took Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni exactly two sentences in the Oval Office on Thursday to signal to her host she was a kindred spirit. “We both share another fight, which is the fight against the woke and DEI ideology that would like to erase our history,” she proclaimed in English, using some of President Donald Trump’s favorite codewords to describe her battle against what they see as progressive ideals run amok. It was an unsubtle attempt to make clear from the get-go she was not the kind of European leader Trump has hosted in the same room over the course of the past two months. Populist, conservative and a shrewd political operator, Meloni has captured the attention of Trump and his advisers. She was the lone leader from Europe to attend his inauguration in January. She is friends with his most powerful adviser, billionaire Elon Musk. And she has adopted the same type of anti-migration stance that helped fuel Trump’s return to the White House. Like El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, another likeminded ally who visited the White House this week, Meloni appeared to know exactly what to say to convey her MAGA bonafides. “The goal for me is to make the West great again,” she said. “And I think we can do it together.”

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.










