Kimberly Guilfoyle seems to step down as U.S. ambassador to Greece

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, seems set to leave her post after the White House asked her to resign. White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, at her first briefing in the job on Tuesday, October 13, told reporters: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” according to CBS News, which says Zacharia broke the news there. She added: “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.” ABC News and CNBC carry the same words. DW renders the second line differently, reporting that Zacharia called Guilfoyle “an incredible asset to the team.” The Guardian’s US politics live blog posted the item at 15:02 BST (7:02 a.m. PT), the earliest report this desk found; it says Zacharia took only five questions from three reporters. DW says Zacharia took over the press secretary job from Karoline Leavitt.

Guilfoyle confirmed her exit on X. In a post on her personal account, @kimguilfoyle, published at 15:10 UTC (8:10 a.m. PT) and edited about seven minutes later to add a line of thanks to the people of Greece, she wrote: “Serving as the United States Ambassador to Greece has been the honor of a lifetime.” She thanked Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and listed what she called accomplishments, among them agreements to expand American liquefied natural gas exports to Europe and progress on the Vertical Corridor, a project she links to cutting Europe’s dependence on Russian energy. She wrote: “While my time as Ambassador may be coming to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country I love will never end.” CBS News says she posted less than two hours after Zacharia spoke. ABC News says the post does not make clear whether she resigned or got fired; CNBC says she said she would resign, and CBS News says she said she would step aside.

She also took on the allegations directly. “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” she wrote, adding: “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.” CNBC, Al Jazeera and ABC News quote that line the same way; CBS News renders the verb as “rigorously defend,” while the post itself, as this desk read it through X’s public data, says “vigorously.” Before her exit, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Athens said Guilfoyle has “faithfully followed State Department ethics and gift reporting guidelines,” ABC News reports.

The allegations trace to a run of Wall Street Journal reports, according to CNBC, CBS News, ABC News and the Guardian; this desk did not read the Journal, which sits behind a paywall. The most serious claim centers on Eric Deters, whom ABC News describes as a former lawyer, conservative media personality and Trump donor. Deters alleged that Guilfoyle asked him to pay her $100,000 credit card bill in July 2025, days before her Senate confirmation hearing, ABC News reports. CBS News says Deters told it that she asked him to wire $100,000 to her American Express account so her credit card debt would not show up on her financial disclosures, and that he characterized the request as “pay to play.” The Guardian, citing the Journal’s account of Signal messages, says Guilfoyle wrote: “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today.” ABC News carries the same words from messages Deters provided to it. The outlets differ on when the Journal first reported the $100,000 request: the Guardian says October 8, while CNBC cites an October 7 report.

Deters has said he paid Guilfoyle about $300,000 over the years without receiving “one favor,” and he told MS Now the request “absolutely was a quid pro quo,” the Guardian reports. He told ABC News: “It was all quid pro quo.” The Guardian, summarizing the Journal, reports that Guilfoyle offered to use her influence on his tax and legal problems in return and told him she had contacted the IRS commissioner and the justice department on his behalf. CBS News says Deters sought her help with access to Trump administration officials, including the attorney general and IRS commissioner, and, citing sources familiar with the matter, reports that White House officials heard the text messages between the two described as authentic. ABC News reports that Deters denies he owed Guilfoyle any money and says he never made the payment because he lacked the money. ABC News also notes that Deters lost primaries for Kentucky governor in 2023 and for the state’s 4th Congressional District in 2024, that his law license got suspended in 2012, and that in refusing to reinstate it in 2021 the Kentucky Supreme Court said he had a “notorious propensity” for filing “malicious or frivolous lawsuits,” according to court documents.

Guilfoyle’s side disputes the account. Her lawyer, Jesse Binnall, says she disputes the authenticity of the messages, the Guardian reports; CNBC says Binnall disputed their authenticity to the Journal but declined to provide specifics. Binnall told the Journal that Guilfoyle had received pay to speak at events before her nomination and “was owed a balance for traveling to and supporting these patriotic events,” according to CNBC. In a statement late Sunday, her lawyers said the money she sought covered appearances and speaking engagements that predate her nomination and that went unpaid, ABC News reports, citing The Associated Press; Al Jazeera carries a similar account. According to the Journal, as the Guardian reports it, Guilfoyle also worried about the exchanges going public, writing in one message: “What a nightmare you’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing.”

The Journal’s reporting reaches beyond Deters, the outlets say. CNBC says a September 25 Journal article alleged that Guilfoyle persistently promoted a Greek company and involved a lobbyist for a Greek construction firm in meetings with foreign officials; Binnall told the Journal she has “worked with companies across the energy sector,” CNBC reports. The Guardian names the company as Aktor and says the Journal also reported improper gifts and services and an alleged threat to a host-country official. Al Jazeera says the newspaper reported that she told guests at a reception she could use US influence to undermine the Greek government. CBS News says the Journal reported that in January she boasted about Greek tycoons footing the bill for her luxury travel and voiced outrage at getting blocked from a dinner for Eric Trump during the World Economic Forum in Davos; CNBC says a Saturday Journal report described her boasting of close ties to wealthy Greek businessmen as she sought an invitation to that dinner.

Trump had signaled the move. On Monday he told reporters, “Well, we're looking at it,” and added, “Yeah, we're not happy,” CNBC reports. On Tuesday, before leaving to campaign in Alaska, he said: “She will not be there. I didn't like what I read,” according to CBS News, which says he told reporters he had not spoken with Guilfoyle. CNBC quotes him on Tuesday as saying: “She was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading.” When a reporter noted her past engagement to Donald Trump Jr., Trump replied, “No, she wasn't a member of my family,” CNBC reports. The Guardian says reports had Trump and Rubio growing furious over the allegations; DW attributes a similar account to The Associated Press. CBS News, citing two sources familiar with the matter, says Guilfoyle had shown reluctance to step down in recent days, but the Tuesday briefing left her with little choice.

Rubio, in Greece last week, initially defended her, DW reports, quoting him: “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.” ABC News quotes him later declining to address the claims: “I don't even know if it's true or not true.” ABC News reports that officials close to Rubio have voiced frustration with Guilfoyle, whose reported misconduct loomed over his visit to Athens. Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called last week for her removal, ABC News reports. A U.S. official told ABC News that the State Department’s inspector general has started examining claims of possible misconduct by Guilfoyle, though ABC News says it remains unclear whether a formal probe has opened; DW describes reports on that point as mixed and unconfirmed.

Guilfoyle, 57, a former San Francisco prosecutor, stayed married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom until 2006 and later got engaged to Donald Trump Jr., before the couple broke up in September 2024, the Guardian reports. Trump named her for the Athens post in December 2024, and Senate Republicans used the “nuclear option” in September 2025 to overcome a Democratic filibuster and confirm her by simple majority, according to the Guardian, which says she became the first woman to represent the US in Greece and arrived in Athens in late October 2025. The outlets describe the length of her tenure differently: “less than a year” in the Guardian, “nearly a year” in ABC News and “yearlong” in CNBC. CBS News reports that no names for a new ambassador to Greece circulated in the White House on Tuesday.