Trump to meet Italian president at White House next week

President Trump will host Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the White House next week as his administration pushes for Italy to cooperate in its investigation into the 2016 election.

Mattarella will meet with Trump next Wednesday. The two men are expected to discuss economics, security and 5G telecommunications security, the White House said Friday. The visit will also include a reception celebrating Italian-American heritage.{mosads}

Mattarella has been Italy’s president since 2015. He last visited the White House in 2016, when he met with then-President Obama.

{mosads}Attorney General William Barr has reportedly spoken with officials in Italy, the United Kingdom and Australia as part of a Justice Department probe into the origins of the Russia investigation.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote a letter last week urging the three foreign governments to cooperate with the investigation, which has been a point of emphasis for Trump and Barr.

“That the attorney general is holding meetings with your countries to aid in the Justice Department’s investigation of what happened is well within the bounds of his normal activities. He is simply doing his job,” Graham wrote in the letter.

He added that he was requesting “your country’s continued cooperation with Attorney General Barr as the Department of Justice continues to investigate the origins and extent of foreign influence in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

Democrats have raised alarms that Barr is involving foreign governments in his investigation, which they have argued is baseless. Trump has maintained that his campaign was “spied on” in 2016, something Barr has not ruled out.