Forced out after press reports

The White House pushed Kimberly Guilfoyle out as United States ambassador to Greece on Tuesday, 13 October, after a run of reports alleging corruption and influence peddling. Trump asked for her resignation, and the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, announced it on live television. Guilfoyle, 57, was nominated to the Athens post in December 2024 and began work there in December 2025. She had once been engaged to Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, and she is a former Fox News host who was once married to Gavin Newsom, the California governor.

The $100,000 request

The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle asked Eric Deters, a Republican donor and longtime Trump ally, to pay $100,000 on her American Express credit card shortly before her Senate confirmation hearing in July 2025. Signal messages reported by the paper show her writing that the payment would not appear anywhere if sent to American Express. Other allegations in the press include luxury gifts, travel on private aircraft and lobbyists being included in official meetings. Her lawyers said the money was owed for consulting work carried out before she took the post. According to the paper, she also told White House officials that the damaging messages were generated by artificial intelligence, and officials met that claim with suspicion. The paper further reported that she suggested during a meeting in Athens in March that the United States could play a role in political changes in Romania and that something similar might happen in Greece.

Trump's response and her defence

Trump said he was not pleased with the reporting and that he had not spoken with Guilfoyle before she was asked to resign. Asked by reporters about her, he said the following.

She wasn't a member of my family.

He added that she had dated his son a long time ago. Guilfoyle responded on X, calling the accusations false, thanking Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their support, and vowing to defend her name, reputation and integrity. She has avoided a public confrontation with the administration.

Reaction in Greece

In Athens, the PASOK parliamentary spokesman Dimitris Mantzos called the dismissal a very serious development and asked the government for a full account of the energy and defence agreements reached with Washington. SYRIZA accused the government of choosing silence and failing to demand public explanations from the United States. Rena Dourou, who leads the SYRIZA parliamentary group, told parliament during a debate on a culture ministry bill that the government had been exposed.

You are exposed because you did not react as you should have.

Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hadzidakis told ERT News that the removal was a matter for the United States and did not affect Greek-American relations. Greek newspapers put the story on their front pages, and Ta Nea counted 339 days in the post before Guilfoyle's departure.

Open questions

The Office of the Inspector General at the State Department is keeping an investigation into the matter open, according to sources familiar with the case. Democrats in Congress have demanded that Guilfoyle appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, arguing that her dismissal does not spare her from accountability for allegedly enriching herself.