Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump's ambassador to Greece, asked a Republican donor to pay a roughly $100,000 American Express bill days before her Senate confirmation hearing, according to messages reported by The Wall Street Journal on October 7, 2026. “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” she wrote to Eric Deters, a former Kentucky congressional candidate, in a July 3, 2025 Signal message, followed by payment instructions: “It won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that's all that will show. Please.” In another message she wrote, “What a nightmare, you'll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing,” the New York Post reported, citing the Journal. Deters, who gave $125,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. in 2022, did not pay, The Hill reported.
Deters told ABC News, “It was all quid pro quo,” and the Guardian reported he called Guilfoyle “a grifter.” Her lawyer, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal that she disputed the authenticity of the messages, but that she was “owed a balance” for travel and speaking at events before her nomination; Deters said he owed her nothing.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked about the report in Greece with Guilfoyle present, said, “It's not the gospel. It's not the gospel for me.” Vice President JD Vance said, “Of course, I don't like anybody selling access to another government official, certainly a high-level government official.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said it was “at best horrible optics, and at worst, something that's worthy of a termination.” The messages' authenticity is disputed and no money changed hands.
CBS News, which reviewed screenshots Deters provided, reported the fuller July 3 message, “I have been officially announced honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” and said White House officials were told the texts were authentic, according to sources familiar with the matter. Deters had earlier offered her “$1 million dollars when Durrani settles” if she got him booked on Tucker Carlson's show, and pressed her to contact Attorney General Pam Bondi and IRS Commissioner Billy Long. Guilfoyle sent him a letter she had written to Long asking him to give his attention to Deters's tax issue. Deters also told CBS he had paid her $300,000 over time. The Ohio Supreme Court sanctioned Deters in 2021 for the unauthorized practice of law, and has spent years pushing for the extradition of Dr. Abubakar Durrani, a spine surgeon accused of health care fraud; CBS reported Deters once stood to gain financially from suing him.
Vance's remark came in answer to a reporter who did not name Guilfoyle, and he added, “I can't say with confidence that the case you're talking about is actually reflective of the way you're describing it,” CNN reported. Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on House Foreign Affairs, said that if the allegations are accurate she “should be removed,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen and others called for a criminal investigation, and Senate Foreign Relations Democratic staff said they are continuing to investigate.
Asked by CNN about the allegations on October 9, Trump said, “I just heard about it. Too bad. I mean, I don't know,” and added, “I just heard a little bit about it. I don't know too much, but she was always very nice.” On October 11, a senior U.S. official told AP that Trump and Rubio were “extremely pissed off” by her reported conduct and would likely decide what to do that week; CNN separately reported Trump was considering firing her. Two people familiar told NBC News that the State Department's inspector general is investigating her and the embassy; the inspector general's office does not comment, and a second official told AP they could not say if a formal probe had begun. Her lawyers said the money was owed for past work: “We are evaluating all available legal remedies to collect this debt and any other potential causes of action.”
Update (October 13, 2026): asked on October 12 whether he was considering firing her, Trump said, “We're looking at it. We're not happy.” The next morning, at her first briefing, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said, “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” and added, “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.” Guilfoyle announced her departure on X, writing, “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.” Trump said afterward, “She went to Greece. She was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading.” Asked whether she would open her own investigation, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said, “I think right now that there is an inspector general investigation in the Department of State. We'll probably wait to see what comes, what happens with that.” Some headlines said Trump fired her; the reporting describes a requested resignation.
On October 14, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, wrote to Guilfoyle requesting by October 22 her communications since January 2024 with Deters and others, plus financial records, and said, “Kimberly Guilfoyle is a fraud, and if she thinks she's escaping accountability just because she resigned, she's sorely mistaken.” Trump said of her, “She wasn't a member of my family. I guess she dated my son a long time ago,” The Hill reported.