Kimberly Guilfoyle ousted as US ambassador to Greece amid misconduct allegations
Kimberly Guilfoyle is stepping down as US ambassador to Greece, the White House announced on Tuesday morning, 13 October 2026, after weeks of reports she sought payment from a Trump donor in exchange for access to administration officials.
Kimberly Guilfoyle ousted as US ambassador to Greece amid misconduct allegations
White House confirms the resignation
The Kimberly Guilfoyle ambassador to Greece chapter came to an abrupt end when the White House announced her departure on Tuesday morning, 13 October 2026, weeks after reports emerged that she had sought payment from a Trump donor in exchange for access to administration officials. The US president and secretary of state Marco Rubio were reported to have grown furious over the allegations.
Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, told reporters at her first briefing on Tuesday that the administration had asked Guilfoyle to resign.
We have asked Ambassador Guilfyole to resign, she has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well
Guilfoyle, the former fiancee of Donald Trump Jr, confirmed her departure, describing the post as the "honor of a lifetime" and denying what she called false allegations. On social media she pledged to "vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity", and wrote that while her time as ambassador may be coming to an end, her commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country she loves will never end.
The donor messages behind the allegations
The most serious claim, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on 8 October, centers on the donor Eric Deters. Citing Signal messages, the Journal reported that in July 2025, days before her Senate confirmation hearing, Guilfoyle pressed Deters to pay off a $100,000 American Express bill.
- In one message cited by the Journal, Guilfoyle wrote: "Honey please I need you to get this done for me today."
- According to the Journal, she offered to use her influence on Deters' tax and legal problems, saying she had contacted the IRS commissioner and the justice department on his behalf.
- Deters said he had paid Guilfoyle about $300,000 over the years without receiving "one favor".
- Deters told MS Now the request "absolutely was a quid pro quo".
Guilfoyle appeared concerned the exchanges could become public. "Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things," she wrote in one message. In another: "What a nightmare you'll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing." She urged him to call her on Signal instead.
A lawyer for Guilfoyle, Jesse Binnall, said she disputes the authenticity of the messages.
Other claims in the Journal report
The Journal also reported that Guilfoyle accepted improper gifts and services, made an alleged threat to a host-country official, and promoted the interests of a Greek company, Aktor, during official engagements.
Reactions in Athens
Asked hours before the announcement whether Guilfoyle would resign, Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said: "There has been no relevant request, nor has it been discussed with Greek authorities". Greek media had already described the US embassy as "headless" and dysfunctional, days after Marco Rubio's visit to Greece.
Alec Mally, a former senior US diplomat who handled Greek affairs at the state department, said the US embassy in Athens had been put "in an impossible situation".
He said the ambassador had increasingly come across almost as if she were representing an old-style Balkan country, and that it would not surprise him if the Greek public reacts with joy to the news of her resignation. Some had argued her direct access to Trump outweighed all the negatives, he added, while many thought her appointment had been "an insult to the country's reputation".
I think we can safely say she was like no ambassador Greece has ever seen before
The verdict came from an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The resignation caps a turbulent stretch for the embassy. Guilfoyle was reported to have told Greece's energy minister that Washington was capable of toppling any government, including the center-right administration in Athens, if they didn't toe the line. On 9 October, during a stormy parliamentary debate, Greece's foreign minister Giorgos Gerapetritis was forced to deny the claim. Leftwing politician and former deputy foreign minister Sia Anagnostopoulos said it was "a question of national dignity that the American ambassador is called to give an explanation".
Guilfoyle was sworn in as the first woman to represent the US in Greece, succeeding the Biden appointee George Tsunis, and arrived in Athens in late October 2025. Her tenure lasted about 11 months.
