Trump fires Kimberly Guilfoyle over misconduct allegations

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is dismissing Kimberly Guilfoyle as U.S. ambassador to Greece after a series of reports raised questions about her conduct on the job.

The White House said Guilfoyle had been asked to resign after nearly a week of speculation that Guilfoyle, the former fiancée of Trump son Don. Jr., would be let go.

“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well," White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said during her first briefing with the media.

Trump confirmed the firing later, telling reporters: "I didn't like what I read."

Immediately before Trump's comments, Guilfoyle posted a statement to X announcing her resignation and denouncing the allegations against her as false.

"I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity," Guilfoyle said. "I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service."

Trump campaign donor Eric Deters says Guilfoyle pushed him to pay off her $100,000 American Express bill while she was preparing for her Senate confirmation hearing last year. Guilfoyle is also said to have offered to make a businessman "a lot of f---ing money" during a conversation, in which she touted her connections to the Trump family earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Both of the alleged incidents were reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said a lawyer for Guilfoyle disputed the authenticity of the messages she's said to have sent to Deters, a former congressional candidate.

Trump acknowledged on Oct. 12 that he was weighing whether to fire Guilfoyle, the ex-fiancée of his son Donald Trump Jr., over potential ethics violations.

"Well, we're looking at it. Yeah, we're not happy," Trump told reporters, as he departed the White House for a campaign event.

Guilfoyle's fall from grace was a sharp turn of events for the former Fox News star who was once part of the Trump family's inner circle.

At a Greek Independence Day event at the White House on March 26, Trump embraced Guilfoyle and asked her to join him at the front of the East Room.

"Kimberly Guilfoyle has been my friend for a long time. I love calling her Kimberly. That's my little pet name, right? But you are the greatest, and I heard they love you over there. I hope you come back here in 12 years or whenever the term ends," Trump said at the time. "Come on up here, Kim, stay alongside of us."

Six months later, she was facing a congressional investigation over an allegation that she advocated for the U.S. to interfere in the democratic elections of NATO allies.

Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks asked the State Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to launch its own investigation and requested that Guilfoyle appear before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and testify under oath.

The Justice Department could also end up investigating the allegation that Guilfoyle pushed a campaign donor to pay off her credit card bill, Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro indicated at an Oct. 13 press conference.

"I think right now that there is an inspector general investigation in the Department of State. We probably wait to see ... what happens with that," Pirro said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the possible investigation.

'Obviously, I don’t love that'

At first, Guilfoyle seemed poised to potentially survive the allegations, with top Trump administration officials side-stepping questions about her conduct last week.

"Obviously, I don’t love that,” Vice President JD Vance told a reporter on Oct. 8 when asked about the idea of selling access to the Trump administration without using Guilfoyle's name or getting into the specifics.

He defended Guilfoyle to reporters the following day, saying the administration would follow the facts. "Let's see what the truth is. And obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences," Vance said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who happened to be in Athens at the time, said on Oct. 8 during a joint news conference: "The questions you’re asking me, we’re not addressing those at press conferences in Greece with the foreign minister and in another country."

He flashed anger later as a journalist asked him about the report again on the tarmac in Athens.

"I’m not going to comment on a story that literally posted a few hours ago," Rubio said. "I don’t even know if it’s true or not true.  So it’s just not going to work that way, and it most certainly is not going to work that way when I’m sitting in another country."

Trump also waited to comment, telling journalists he'd just heard about it on Oct. 9. "I don’t know too much," he said, "but she was always very nice."

The president has since sought to distance himself from Guilfoyle, saying on Oct. 13 that she dated his son "a long time ago" and was never a member of his family. "She went to Greece, she was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading," he added.

The president said he had not personally spoken to Guilfoyle about her resignation.

It was not immediately clear who Trump planned to tap to fill the role, which requires Senate confirmation. Greece is considered one of the more plum ambassadorial positions as both a NATO nation and a member of the European Union.

The Senate confirmed Guilfoyle to the position in September 2025. The former media personality dated the president's eldest son for several years before a 2024 breakup that preceded Trump's return to office. She was previously married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and served as first lady of San Francisco during the Democrat's mayoral term. She worked as a prosecutor in San Francisco and Los Angeles before relocating to New York.

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi – USA TODAY