This has been a sordid, classless, just ICK on the ICKter scale couple of days for a woman who was once nestled in the bosom of Republican power.
Kimberly Guilfoyle (whose good judgment could have been questioned years ago when she was Mrs. Gavin Newsom, but never was), the flashy former San Francisco prosecutor turned Fox News TV personality, Republican activist, former Donald Trump Jr. fiancée, and, lately, U.S. ambassador to Greece was the subject of an in-depth Wall Street Journal expose five days ago that was so appalling in the breathtaking avarice reported, you could hear the clock start ticking even in an administration known for flashy characters.
And it wasn't simply the WSJ telling tales. They had the texts showing that, among other outrageous expectations, Ambassador Guilfoyle leaned on an extremely well-heeled Trump donor and former candidate to pay her American Express bill before her confirmation hearing, but hush-hush, you know? All so her financials would look tidy.
Now, there was a quid pro quo - she was nice enough to promise favors of the business-interests sort in return. The kind an ambassador of little integrity might do in the good old days of 'you wash my hands, I'll dry yours.'
I mean, I guess when a girl's got bills to pay she does what she thinks she has to do.
Kimberly Guilfoyle was preparing for her congressional hearing to become U.S. ambassador to Greece when she reached out to a Trump donor with an urgent request: She needed $100,000 that she said she owed American Express—in a way that wouldn’t leave a paper trail.
“It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express,” she wrote on Signal, according to messages reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Please.”
Now, that's a tab. But I work from home, so I never run mine up anywhere close to that, and I am short a millionaire/billionaire or two as far as acquaintances to lean on as far as covering minor shortages.
Some people have the life.
Anyway. Guilfoyle was scrambling, like me, if I didn't get the Target bag hidden before major dad saw it.
...For months, Guilfoyle had been chatting with Eric Deters, a former congressional candidate in Kentucky who was seeking her help in getting the attention of the new Trump administration on some personal tax and legal issues—and had promised payments of as much as $1 million if she was successful. As Donald Trump Jr.’s former fiancée, Guilfoyle offered to use her sway, according to Deters and messages reviewed by the Journal. She forwarded Deters the messages she’d sent to the new Internal Revenue Service chief and updated him on her efforts to lobby the Justice Department on his behalf.
But her confirmation was coming up, and she needed her card balance paid down before then, she said.
“Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” she texted Deters, adding a prayer hands emoji and a PDF with bill payment instructions from American Express. “You could just send it here,” she wrote on July 3, 2025, just days before her July 9 confirmation hearing.
Deters didn’t ultimately make the payment, telling Guilfoyle it would cost him his marriage. But the back and forth, part of a tranche of hundreds of messages, emails and letters reviewed by the Journal, raises new questions about the activities of one of America’s most high-profile ambassadors.
The Journal story is the kind of sordid, greasy story that leaves you feeling like you need a shower. This Deters guy who plays the opposite side of it is no simpering victim, either. But it wasn't up to him to be a saint. Guilfoyle is the one who was fighting to represent our country and keep the money rolling in at the same time.
But more revolting are the harum-scarum promises of using her influence throughout the chain at the Cabinet and name-dropping nearly everyone in positions of power to wheedle money from Deters...
...Guilfoyle’s interactions with Deters grew more frequent in the months after she was nominated as ambassador to Greece in December 2024. She promised to lobby top Trump officials from FBI director Kash Patel to former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Every secretary of you know defense, transportation, treasury commerce IRS commissioner everyone gets right back to me,” she wrote, before adding the FBI director, his name misspelled: “Oh yeah, l’m forgetting cash Patel.” An FBI spokesman said she didn’t lobby Patel. Other agencies didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Guilfoyle also expressed concern about her dealings with Deters becoming public—and the effect that could have on her ambassador post. She warned Deters repeatedly not to commit talk of money or payments to text. “Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things,” she wrote in one exchange.
...even as she attempted to fix some sort of tax dispute with the IRS commissioner for Deters and his wife. Something Deters says he had advanced Guilfoyle $300,000 for and received nothing in return.
...That same month, Guilfoyle sent a congratulatory note to Long after his confirmation as IRS commissioner. She attached a letter Deters had written outlining his tax dispute: “Don Jr. and I are very close with Eric Deters and his wife and I know he sent you a letter,” she wrote. “I am hoping I know how busy you are that you could give some time and attention to it.”
Two days later, Deters sent her a photo of a printed memo addressed to her: “I have paid you $300,000 over the years,” he wrote. “As of this memo, I have not received one favor. I am not naive or a sucker. I need results.”
And she did win the post and was making waves across Europe the second she hit its shores. She traveled to Eastern Europe with a registered lobbyist who represents a Greek company that has interests in expanding U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Eastern Europe.
Mixing private business enterprise with official U.S. embassy visits without clear delineation had already gotten Guilfoyle in hot water and turned congressional Democrats' eyes on her activities last month, even before the Amex card story broke last week.
...According to the WSJ, he was present at Guilfoyle’s meetings with politicians, government officials and businesspeople, maintained subsequent contacts with the people she had met, and in some cases effectively continued negotiations on her behalf. Some of the people who met with the ambassador perceived Marafatsos as an official of the U.S. administration or an embassy employee.
In fact, he holds no official position. Marafatsos is a private individual, an American businessman of Greek origin and a registered lobbyist. One of his clients became the Greek AKTOR Group, which has a direct interest in expanding supplies of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Southeastern Europe. The WSJ reports that AKTOR paid Marafatsos for work related, among other things, to contacts with the U.S. executive branch.
...According to the newspaper, Guilfoyle actively promoted U.S. LNG in Southeastern Europe, while her diplomatic activity repeatedly intersected with AKTOR’s interests. The WSJ describes trips and meetings at which Marafatsos and AKTOR chief Alexandros Exarchou (Αλέξανδρος Εξάρχου) were alongside the ambassador. The newspaper also links this activity to future contracts for supplies of U.S. LNG through structures involving AKTOR.
AKTOR denies receiving improper advantages. Guilfoyle’s representatives emphasise that she promotes U.S. government policy and works with more than one company.
Support by American diplomacy for U.S. gas exports is not in itself unusual. Any major power helps its own businesses enter foreign markets. In Guilfoyle’s case, the question arose for another reason: a private lobbyist for a specific company gained access to negotiations from whose outcome that company could profit.
Former U.S. diplomat Robin Brooks, who served in the U.S. Foreign Service and worked on the Balkans and Central Europe at the U.S. National Security Council, called the promotion of a foreign private company by a U.S. ambassador problematic. According to her, the presence of a registered lobbyist at such meetings raises the question of whether it is the U.S. government’s interests or private interests that are being advanced there.
The clock is ticking and Oversight Democrats won’t stop or slow down our investigation into Ms. Guilfoyle until she provides clear answers. Did she ask a MAGA donor to pay off a $100k credit card bill?
— Congressman Robert Garcia (@RepRobertGarcia) October 12, 2026
Rubio's press conferences post-his magnificent Athens speech were peppered with questions about Guilfoyle's future, and you could tell Marco was irritated. He said as little as possible.
...At a press conference in Athens on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Guilfoyle, who sat in front of his podium. “Suffice it to say, our embassy is doing a great job,” he said. “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador.”
President Trump signaled the end was fast approaching when he was asked.
WE'RE NOT HAPPY
'WE'RE NOT HAPPY': Trump says he is "looking at" firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle amid allegations of improper conduct. A senior U.S. official said Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are "extremely pissed off" by reports that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to pay a $100,000 credit card bill while allegedly promising access to administration officials. Guilfoyle's lawyers deny wrongdoing, saying the money was owed for speaking engagements that predated her nomination, and say they are evaluating legal remedies to collect the debt. Full story here https://t.co/tfjq4oJzK5
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) October 13, 2026
...A senior U.S. official said Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are "extremely pissed off" by reports that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to pay a $100,000 credit card bill while allegedly promising access to administration officials.
Guilfoyle's lawyers deny wrongdoing, saying the money was owed for speaking engagements that predated her nomination, and say they are evaluating legal remedies to collect the debt.
The hammer fell this morning at new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia's first podium appearance.
.@DailyMail’s @ElinaShirazi: “On Kimberly Guilfoyle, The Daily Mail has been reporting on her since last year. The President said yesterday to reporters that he is considering firing her. Do you know a timeline for that? And also potentially who could be on the short list to replace her if he does?” @KatieZacharia: “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 13, 2026
“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
The reaction of the press corps at the announcement is a hoot. It's not often they're caught off guard.
Lol everyone was New York Times reporter @ShawnMcCreesh -- leaning forward, eyebrows raised -- when @KatieZacharia revealed President Trump has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as U.S. Ambassador to Greece https://t.co/U2N4XuER7K
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 13, 2026
Guilfoyle's lawyers are insisting it was all money owed to the ambassador, and that nobody did anything wrong.
...In a statement released late Sunday, her lawyers claimed that the money she was seeking from a Trump donor was payment for services — public appearances and speaking engagements that predate her ambassadorial nomination — that had not been paid.
The lawyers also rejected allegations of impropriety related to Guilfoyle’s travel on private planes, saying that before every such trip she “sought, obtained and followed State Department guidance and followed the Department’s travel regulations.”
I'm sure they'll get it all straightened out one way or the other.
Personally, I am delighted they cut the cord so quickly.
There's enough sleaze in this word as it is, and this is just beyond smarmy.
Beege ADDS: And she's gone.
Guilfoyle resigns and says the allegations against her are false.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 13, 2026
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