President Donald Trump’s administration has requested Kimberly Guilfoyle’s resignation as U.S. ambassador to Greece, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia announced.
Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host, came under increasing scrutiny after reports surfaced that she allegedly solicited a Trump donor to cover her large credit‑card bill in return for administrative access and behaved improperly while stationed in Athens.
Trump acknowledged that she had performed well but said she would no longer serve in Greece, adding, “I didn’t like what I read.”
Guilfoyle pledged to fight the “false” allegations and described the ambassadorship as the honor of a lifetime.
During her first—and unusually brief—media briefing, Zacharia announced that Guilfoyle had been asked to resign, offering no further details.
“She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” Zacharia said.
Guilfoyle, 57, the former spouse of California Governor Gavin Newsom, was initially nominated as envoy to Athens in December 2024, a month before Trump’s return to the White House.
In a lengthy post on X, Guilfoyle thanked President Trump, affirmed her continued loyalty, and denied any wrongdoing.
“I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” she wrote, adding that she will not let false accusations define her decades of public service.
Her position grew increasingly precarious as allegations of improper conduct mounted over the past week.
A series of text messages viewed by the BBC—and first reported by The Wall Street Journal—appear to show Guilfoyle requesting money from Eric Deters, a longtime Trump ally.
“It won’t show up anywhere if you wire the money to American Express,” she wrote in one Signal message.
In another message, dated just days before her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing last July, Guilfoyle wrote: “Honey, please I need you to get this done for me today.”
Guilfoyle’s lawyers disputed the authenticity of the messages, saying she was seeking payment owed to her for speeches and consulting work performed on his behalf prior to her ambassadorship.
Audio recordings obtained by the Wall Street Journal reportedly capture Guilfoyle boasting about her ties to prominent Greek business tycoons who, she said, financed her luxury travel and private‑jet flights.
According to the newspaper, she also told an Athenian official that the United States could topple the Greek government.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was pictured alongside Guilfoyle during a trip to Athens last week, reportedly grew unhappy with the allegations.
Guilfoyle was a longtime political ally of Trump and had been in a relationship with his son Donald J. Trump for years, to whom she became engaged in 2018.
That relationship ended in 2024, around the time she was appointed to the Greek post.
On Tuesday, Trump remarked that “she, I guess, dated my son a long time ago,” but emphasized she was not like a family member. He said he had not spoken with Guilfoyle before requesting her resignation, adding, “She went to Greece, she was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading.”
The president also said he thought Zacharia performed “very well” in her first White House press briefing.
Zacharia, a longtime conservative commentator and Trump supporter, answered only a handful of questions during the 14‑minute briefing.
For the first eight minutes she read a list of the administration’s policy achievements, then took questions about Guilfoyle, Ukraine, her family, and the administration’s stance toward non‑traditional media outlets.
She said she viewed her role as working to “amplify, multiply, and expand upon President Trump’s incredible agenda.”