The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has formally requested the resignation of Kimberly Guilfoyle from her post as U.S. Ambassador to Greece, White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia confirmed in a truncated first public briefing this week. The former Fox News host, who had held the Athens posting for less than six months, stepped down amid growing public and internal scrutiny over two serious sets of allegations: claims she solicited payment of a large personal credit card bill from a prominent Trump donor in exchange for political access, and reports of inappropriate behavior during her tenure in Greece.
In on-the-record comments to reporters earlier this week, Trump acknowledged he was dissatisfied with the accusations levied against Guilfoyle. While he offered faint praise, noting he believed she had performed competently in the role, he confirmed she would no longer hold the ambassador position. “I didn’t like what I read,” the president stated plainly, adding that he had not spoken with Guilfoyle ahead of the resignation request and downplayed her long-standing connection to his family.
Guilfoyle, 57, the ex-wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom and a one-time fiancée of Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr., has forcefully denied all wrongdoing. In an extensive post on the social platform X, she described her appointment as ambassador as “the honour of a lifetime,” thanked Trump for the opportunity, and pledged to remain a loyal supporter of his agenda. She vowed to “vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” emphasizing that she would not allow unsubstantiated claims to overshadow her decades of public service. Her legal team has challenged the authenticity of incriminating text messages obtained by major media outlets, arguing the correspondence reflects a request for payment of outstanding fees for pre-ambassadorship speech and consulting work completed for the donor, not an improper solicitation.
The allegations that triggered Guilfoyle’s ousting first came to light in reporting by *The Wall Street Journal*, which was later corroborated by the BBC. Published text messages exchanged between Guilfoyle and Eric Deters, a long-time Trump ally and donor, appear to show her pushing Deters to wire funds directly to American Express to cover her personal debt. “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express,” she wrote in one message on the encrypted messaging platform Signal. In a second message dated just days before her July 2024 U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, Guilfoyle pressed: “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today.” Deters has denied ever paying the sum, rejected Guilfoyle’s claim that he owed her consulting and speaking fees, and announced plans to file a lawsuit against her. Following news of the resignation, Deters called the development “a great day for American diplomacy.”
Additional reporting from *The Wall Street Journal* also published audio recordings that reportedly capture Guilfoyle boasting about her close ties to high-profile Greek business tycoons, who she claimed provided her with luxury travel and private jet flights. She was also recorded making an inflammatory comment to an Athens official, claiming the U.S. government had the power to topple Greece’s elected government. By the time the resignation request was issued, top administration officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who traveled to Athens with Guilfoyle just last week — had also expressed public dissatisfaction with the mounting allegations, making her position in the role untenable.
Guilfoyle’s path to the ambassadorship began in December 2024, when Trump nominated her for the posting one month before his second inauguration as president. Her engagement to Donald Trump Jr. ended earlier that year, shortly before her appointment. On Tuesday, Trump sought to distance the family from the scandal, noting “she, I guess, dated my son a long time ago” but was not considered a family member.
The resignation announcement marked the first major public announcement from new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia, a veteran conservative commentator and long-time Trump supporter. Her debut briefing ran just 14 minutes, an unusually short length for an inaugural press briefing. For the first eight minutes, Zacharia read a prepared list of the Trump administration’s early policy achievements before taking a small handful of questions on Guilfoyle, Ukraine, her personal background, and the administration’s approach to non-traditional media outlets. She framed her role as working to “amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump’s incredible agenda,” and praised Guilfoyle as a “wonderful asset to the team” while adding the administration wished her well. Trump offered a positive assessment of Zacharia’s first performance, telling reporters he thought she had done “very good” work.