Donald Trump appears with Italian prime minister at his Florida club

President-elect Donald Trump appeared with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at his Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday.

Ms Meloni follows Argentina President Javier Milei, who became the first world leader to meet with Mr Trump at Mar-a-Lago after his election victory in November.

Mr Trump appeared at a screening of a documentary detailing challenges some conservative lawyers report facing in the legal system.

Mr Trump told the crowd of Ms Meloni: “This is very exciting.”

“I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy. She’s really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else, and we’re just having dinner tonight.”

Ms Meloni’s visit comes after Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was detained by Iranian police while reporting in Tehran late last month.

Ms Sala’s case has heightened tensions between Italy and Iran, which is demanding Italian authorities release an Iranian businessman who was arrested recently in Milan on a US warrant in connection with a drone attack in Jordan last year that killed three American troops.

President Joe Biden is set to travel to Rome to meet with Ms Meloni, as well as Pope Francis, from Thursday.

The White House says the meeting with Ms Meloni will “highlight the strength of the US-Italy relationship” and feature Mr Biden thanking the prime minister “for her strong leadership of the G7 over the past year”.