Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns, denies allegations of wrongdoing

U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle has resigned after the White House asked her to step down amid reports of financial misconduct and other troubling behavior during her tenure. She denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Guilfoyle, whom the U.S. Senate confirmed in a 51-47 vote last year, has been a prominent figure in media and politics for decades. She is the ex-wife of Gavin Newsom, who was mayor of San Francisco during their marriage and now serves as California governor. She is also a former Fox News personality and was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr.

In a statement posted on X Tuesday, Guilfoyle announced her resignation and called her diplomatic tenure a success.

“We have helped secure historic agreements to expand American liquefied natural gas exports to Europe, advanced the Vertical Corridor to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy, strengthened our defense and security partnership with a critical NATO ally, and expanded opportunities for American businesses and investment throughout the region,” she wrote.

“I am especially proud of the role our Embassy has played in strengthening American energy dominance, advancing economic cooperation, and ensuring that the United States remains the indispensable leader in Southeast Europe."

Guilfoyle called the allegations against her “false” and vowed to “vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.” She insisted, “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”

The allegations stem in part from a Wall Street Journal report published last week that revealed text messages between Guilfoyle and former congressional candidate Eric Deters dating back to fall 2024, shortly after President Donald Trump won the 2024 election. The report states that Deters had been "soliciting Guilfoyle’s help on several matters of great importance to him.”

“He wanted the Justice Department to seek the extradition of Abubakar Atiq Durrani, an Ohio doctor who had fled to Pakistan after being charged with defrauding insurers by performing unnecessary spinal surgeries, including on children. And he wanted to talk to incoming Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Billy Long to discuss a probe into his tax deductions,” the publication noted.

Deters offered Guilfoyle $1 million to get him on independent journalist Tucker Carlson’s show to discuss the Durrani case. Carlson, Guilfoyle’s former Fox News colleague, told The Wall Street Journal that the idea of her persuading him to interview someone he had never heard of was “completely nuts.”

Ahead of her confirmation, Guilfoyle reported liabilities on her financial disclosure forms, including a boat loan worth $100,000 to $250,000 and a mortgage worth $1 million to $5 million. Guilfoyle, who told friends she was “broke” after her relationship with Trump Jr. ended, made her financial struggles clear to Deters.

“I have a lot [of] s— to get done before then and I need to make money,” Guilfoyle wrote in March 2025 after Deters asked when she planned to move to Greece. Guilfoyle also asked Deters to write a letter stating that he owed her $50,000 in back payments for consulting work.

Deters told The Wall Street Journal, “She was worried about legality, and she was worried about the appearances of it.”

Deters wrote the letter in June 2025. That same month, Guilfoyle forwarded Long a letter Deters had written about his tax situation, along with a note saying, “Don Jr. and I are very close with Eric Deters and his wife and I know he sent you a letter." She urged Long to “give some time and attention to it.” Deters remained unhappy with her efforts.

“I have paid you $300,000 over the years,” Deters wrote in a memo to Guilfoyle two days later. “I have not received one favor. I am not naive or a sucker. I need results.”

Guilfoyle responded by asking him to “stop papering these things,” adding, “It’s really dangerous,” and asked him to communicate with her through Signal, an encrypted messaging app.

Guilfoyle assured Deters that she had written Long “a very nice message” and stressed “how important it was” before warning him: “if you write an email or a text about [it], I’m gonna kill you cause I love you but you’re so out of control.”

Guilfoyle later texted Deters “BOOM” to let him know Long had responded. In July 2025, she sent Deters instructions for paying her American Express bills and urged him to cover a $100,000 payment she owed. She explained how he could do so discreetly: “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that’s all that will show.”

Deters refused, telling her, “I can’t do this without getting a divorce.” Guilfoyle signaled she would stop helping him if he didn’t pay the bill, reminding him, “You could be here meeting with Billy Long.”

Last week’s report followed a Wall Street Journal article last month that raised additional pay-to-play concerns about Guilfoyle. That earlier report focused on her ties to Christos Marafatsos, a lobbyist for the Greek construction firm Aktor Group. The newspaper stated that Marafatsos attended so many of Guilfoyle's meetings that some foreign officials "mistook him for her chief of staff." Aktor’s CEO had previously flown Guilfoyle to Bulgaria on a private jet.

Separately, the Daily Mail published an article Thursday reporting that the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General opened an investigation into Guilfoyle after the outlet reported allegations that she abused substances, partied heavily on the job and verbally abused employees.

The Daily Mail alleged that Guilfoyle has repeatedly told embassy workers to “[expletive] get it done or you’re [expletive] fired.” A source told the outlet that “Guilfoyle was drinking at four in the morning, she called her security detail, Vasili, a grandfather, who was sleeping obviously, and did not respond.”

“Next day, she demoted him,” the source added. According to the source, Guilfoyle had called him seeking more ice cubes, and after he failed to answer, she reassigned him to a “follow-car.”

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia was asked about Guilfoyle at Tuesday’s White House press conference.

“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well,” Zacharia said.

She declined to answer questions about when Trump planned to remove Guilfoyle or who could replace her. Zacharia’s remarks came a day after Trump told reporters he was “looking at” the reports about Guilfoyle and was “not happy.”