Kimberly Guilfoyle is leaving her post as U.S. ambassador to Greece after weeks of reports that she requested payment from a Trump donor in exchange for access to administration officials.
This decision, announced Tuesday morning by the White House, ends the diplomatic career of one of Donald Trump’s oldest political allies. This came after the US President and Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, reportedly became furious over the allegations.
“We have asked Ambassador Guilfyole to resign, she has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well,” Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, said during her first press briefing Tuesday.
Guilfoyle – the former fiancée of Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr – later confirmed her departure from her post, which she described as “the honor of her life”, and denied what she called “false” allegations.
Pledging to “vigorously defend my name, reputation and integrity” in a social media post, she wrote: “Even as my term as ambassador comes to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement and the country I love will never end. »
The most serious accusation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on October 8, concerns donor Eric Deters.
Citing messages from Signal, the newspaper reported that in July 2025, days before his Senate confirmation hearing, Guilfoyle pressed Deters to pay a $100,000 American Express bill, assuring him the transfer would not show up anywhere. “Honey please I need you to do this for me today,” she wrote, according to the report.
Guilfoyle in return offered to use her influence on his tax and legal issues and told him she had contacted the IRS commissioner and the Justice Department on his behalf.
He also said he paid Guilfoyle approximately $300,000 over the years without receiving “a single favor,” and told MS Now that the request “was absolutely a quid pro quo.”
Guilfoyle also expressed concern over the publication of the trades, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Eric, I really wish you would stop putting all these things on paper,” she wrote in one message. In another, she told him: “What a nightmare you are literally going to cost me my ambassadorship, stop writing.” » She urged him to call her on Signal instead.
The Journal also reported that Guilfoyle accepted inappropriate gifts and services, made alleged threats against a host country official and defended the interests of a Greek company, Aktor, during official engagements. Guilfoyle’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, said she disputed the authenticity of the messages.
after newsletter promotion
Guilfoyle, 57, a former San Francisco prosecutor married until 2006 to California Governor Gavin Newsom, became a fixture in Trump’s political orbit after leaving Fox News in 2018 as she began dating Trump Jr. The couple got engaged in late 2020 and she was a prominent speaker at Trump campaign events, including the 2024 Republican National Convention, before splitting shortly soon after in September 2024.
Trump, as president-elect, then appointed her to the Athens post in December 2024, weeks after his election victory, calling her a “close friend and ally.” That month, Trump Jr. was photographed holding hands with Bettina Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite, and Guilfoyle was absent from the post-election portrait of the family, which included Trump Jr.’s ex-wife and their children. Trump Jr married Anderson in May.
The nomination remained stalled for months in the Senate until Republicans used the “nuclear option” in September 2025 to overcome a Democratic filibuster and confirm her with a simple majority. She was sworn in as the first woman to represent the United States in Greece, succeeding Biden appointee George Tsunis, and arrived in Athens in late October 2025.
This ends a mandate that lasted less than a year.
Gn headline
