"Terrible failure": Meloni's translator publicly apologized for a stumble during a meeting with Trump
Kyiv • UNN
Giorgia Meloni's translator publicly apologized for a stumble during a meeting with Donald Trump. Due to the hitch, the Italian Prime Minister had to translate herself, which the translator called a "terrible failure," justifying the interruption by the importance of the meeting.
Giorgia Meloni's translator apologized for stumbling during an important meeting with US President Donald Trump earlier this week, which prompted the Italian Prime Minister to intervene and translate her own comments on NATO and defense spending, UNN reports with reference to Politico.
Details
Valentina Majolini-Rothbach, who was interrupted by Meloni while translating at the White House meeting on Thursday, said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the stumble was "the worst thing that can happen to a translator, a terrible failure."
Footage of the meeting shows President Trump asking Majolini-Rothbach to translate Meloni's response to an Italian journalist's question about his stance on Ukraine and military spending. Majolini-Rothbach appears to struggle with the translation, stopping several times and reviewing her notes, before Meloni interrupts her and speaks to Trump in English.
The translator said in the interview with Corriere della Sera that such a disaster had never happened to her before. "I am sorry, first of all, that I was unable to help," she said.
"...Meloni was right to interrupt me, it was a very important meeting and every word carried great weight," Majolini-Rothbach said. "She wanted Donald Trump to understand her perfectly."
Majolini-Rothbach said in the interview that although she had not been to the White House before, she is an experienced translator and has worked at high-level meetings, including the G20. According to her LinkedIn profile, she has been working as a translator since 1991.
She had not spoken to Meloni after the meeting, she said, adding that she had gone to the airport from the White House after the session. According to Corriere della Sera, she is currently by the sea in the Santa Marinella area.
Trump, in response to Meloni's comments as soon as she made them, said he did not hold Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responsible for the war in Ukraine, but added that he was "not thrilled that this war started."
The next day, Meloni met with US Vice President J. D. Vance in Rome.