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In this week’s news from the ooze: Ruben Gallego, Lucian Wintrich, Marco Rubio, Milli Vanilli, Katie Martin, Patrick Henry, Usha Vance, Marco Peronaci, and Kash Patel.

Seething Officials Want Some Omerta from Trump

The collateral damage from Donald Trump’s latest international spat is starting to pile up.

Administration officials are privately seething after a U.S.-Italy business and innovation forum scheduled for Miami this week collapsed in spectacular fashion following the president’s very public feud with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The June 22 event was set to be held at the prestigious Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, home to a championship golf course and rooms charging up to $900 a night. It was supposed to be a showcase of transatlantic cooperation, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio slated to headline alongside a roster of corporate heavyweights, government officials, and diplomats from both countries.

Months of planning had gone into the gathering. Speeches were finalized. Deliverables were ready for rollout. Officials expected announcements aimed at boosting investment and trade ties. “Mark your calendars!" beamed Marco Peronaci,  Italy’s ambassador to the U.S., on Instagram last week. “Together - insieme - Italy and the U.S. will generate new opportunities, investments, and innovation!”

Then Trump happened.

First on Italian television and then via social media, Trump claimed that Meloni "begged" him to pose for a photo with her during the recent G7 summit. Within minutes, Meloni took to her socials with a strong denial and a reminder to the US President that, “Italy and I do not beg." Soon after, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani pulled out of a planned visit to Washington—and organizers immediately knew they had a problem. What followed, according to frustrated officials, was a rapid unraveling that ended with the entire event being scrapped at the eleventh hour.

“The president couldn’t keep his mouth shut,” one exasperated source complained, summing up the mood inside parts of the administration.

For Rubio and the administration’s economic team, a week that was supposed to be about jobs, investment and partnership instead became another exercise in damage control. The cancellation is of course more than just an embarrassing scheduling hiccup. It’s the latest example of career officials and cabinet members spending months building relationships, negotiating agreements and organizing splashy diplomatic events—only to watch everything go sideways after a presidential outburst. Perhaps Rubio could persuade his boss to try some omerta?

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