Was an image of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gazing at U.S. President Donald Trump original and unedited when it was shared in the summer of 2026? No, that's not true: The image was edited, and taken from a real video of Meloni sharing a joke with Trump and other world leaders at a G7 summit in France in June 2026. Trump later posted the edited image on Truth Social, along with the caption "Restraining Order Needed".
The image appeared in a July 5, 2026, post on Truth Social by Trump (archived here) which contained the following embedded caption:
RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED
Here's what it looked like at the time of publication:
That image was edited, and taken from an authentic video of Meloni sharing a joke with Trump and other world leaders at a G7 summit in Evian, France, on June 16, 2026.
In the video, published by the Italian news website Agenzia Nova, European Council President António Costa can be heard saying to Trump and Meloni "You're friends again." Meloni replies "We have always been friends". Trump says "I was abandoned", and Meloni replies "No" and laughs.
That exchange was also reported by Euronews (archived here).
A still image taken from that video shows the position of the participants in question. From left to right: Costa; Trump; Meloni; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In the background, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Those body positions clearly match those shown in larger, uncropped versions of the "gazing" image shared by Trump:
The most important difference between the two versions can be found in the high-resolution, open-eyed "gazing" expression on Meloni's face, which some observers might interpret as admiring -- hence the "restraining order" joke shared by Trump on July 5.
But that expression cannot be found in the original video, and was therefore the result of digital editing, perhaps including the use of AI enhancement.
