The White House has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as U.S. ambassador to Greece, after reports that she asked a Trump donor to pay off her $100,000 American Express bill and took private jet trips paid for by Greek businessmen. New press secretary Katie Zacharia announced it in her first briefing Tuesday: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign.”
Guilfoyle, who was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. for four years, said on X that her time in the post is “coming to an end,” but called the allegations “false.” It wasn’t clear whether she resigned or was fired, ABC News reported, and the State Department wouldn’t say.
Why was Kimberly Guilfoyle asked to resign?
A string of reports, many first published by The Wall Street Journal, piled up over the past week. Eric Deters, a former lawyer and Trump donor, says Guilfoyle texted him in July 2025, days before her Senate confirmation hearing, asking him to wire $100,000 to pay off her American Express card, and that she promised to be his “ride or die” in the administration. “No question it was a quid pro quo,” Deters told CNN. He says he never sent the money.
Other reports said she boasted about private jet trips bankrolled by Greek businessmen, promoted a Greek energy company and brought a lobbyist for a Greek construction firm into official meetings, CNN reported. Her lawyers say Deters owed her money for speeches and consulting, and that she followed federal gift rules. “Asking a client to pay for work already done is not corruption,” they said.
What did Trump say about Guilfoyle?
He kept his distance. “She wasn’t a member of my family. She dated my son a long time ago,” Trump told ABC News, adding, “I didn’t like what I read.” He said he hadn’t spoken to her. On Monday he’d said, “We’re looking at it. Yeah, we’re not happy.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who publicly defended her on a trip to Athens, was privately eager to see her go, people familiar with the matter told CNN. “She was basically fired on live TV,” one source said.
Guilfoyle wrote that she intends to “vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” adding, “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”
The BeezLoop Take
This one wasn’t complicated. An ambassador allegedly asked a political donor to cover her credit card days before her confirmation hearing, and the donor says he has the texts. Her lawyer disputes them, but she hasn’t explained them. If any other nominee did that, it would end the nomination. It only took this long because of who she is.
Trump’s line that she “wasn’t a member of my family” tells you how this works. She was at the family’s weddings and on the campaign stage for years. Loyalty runs one direction, and it lasts until the headlines get bad enough.
The open question: will anyone investigate whether she actually traded access for money, or does resigning make it all go away?
Also on BeezLoop: how the $100,000 American Express request came to light.
Sources: CNN · ABC News · Fox News · PBS NewsHour (video)
