Here is more from Politico:
Internal discontent is brewing at the Atlantic Council over the Washington think tank's decision to honor Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at an upcoming gala in New York and invite controversial tech mogul Elon Musk to introduce her.
The Atlantic Council will give Meloni its Global Citizen Award on Sept. 22 at a gala on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in recognition of "her groundbreaking role as Italy's first female prime minister, her strong support of the European Union and the transatlantic alliance, and her 2024 chairmanship of the Group of Seven."
Meloni's inclusion was grounds alone for some staffers at the prominent Washington policy shop to grouse, owing to her past coziness with Russia and her political party's anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. But former and current Atlantic Council staffers...[said] anger reached a boiling point when the think tank announced that at Meloni's request, she would be introduced by Musk.
Atlantic Council, like many Washington think tanks over the years, has seen its reputation take a hit over various foreign funding and disclosure issues.
