The White House asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign Tuesday, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said during a briefing, and Guilfoyle later announced that her time in the post is "coming to an end."
"We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign," Zacharia said during her first briefing as press secretary. "She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well."
The Washington Times reported that Guilfoyle stepped down Tuesday after the White House asked for her resignation over allegations of improper conduct during her time at the embassy. ABC News reported that the announcement comes after a report that Guilfoyle allegedly offered a President Trump donor access to top administration officials, and that the Wall Street Journal first reported on accusations from Eric Deters, a former lawyer, conservative media personality and Trump donor, that Guilfoyle's alleged actions were a quid pro quo.
Deters alleged that Guilfoyle asked him to pay her hundred-thousand-dollar credit card bill in July 2025, days before her Senate confirmation hearing. He provided messages to ABC News he says he exchanged with Guilfoyle on the subject. Guilfoyle's attorney disputed the messages' authenticity to the Wall Street Journal but did not provide specifics. ABC News reached out to Guilfoyle and her attorney on the matter but did not receive a response.
In a social media post, Guilfoyle announced that her time in her post is "coming to an end." It is not clear from the post whether she resigned or was fired.
"It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the United States of America," Guilfoyle wrote. "God bless President Trump, God bless our incredible diplomats and service members, and God bless the United States of America."
Guilfoyle, the former wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and ex-fiance of Donald Trump Jr., held the ambassador position for nearly a year. She was a prominent surrogate for the Trump campaign and attended both political and family events, including Tiffany Trump's wedding.
President Donald Trump tried to distance himself from Guilfoyle on Tuesday. "She wasn't a member of my family. She dated my son a long time ago," he told ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott, later adding, "we didn't like what we were reading."
"I didn't speak to her. No, she will not be there. I didn't like what I read," Trump said.
Asked about the misconduct allegations, the president said Guilfoyle was doing a good job but that he did not like what he was reading, according to BBC News.
Fox News reported that Guilfoyle faces allegations of a hundred-thousand-dollar payment request, diplomatic misconduct and hostile workplace claims at the U.S. Embassy in Greece. A series of controversies have surrounded Guilfoyle's ambassadorship, including a report earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal that she boasted about private jet trips. PBS News reported that Guilfoyle insisted she'll "vigorously defend" herself, and other coverage noted she has denied the Journal's allegations that she used political connections to seek financial favors and promote private business interests.
The story moved through conservative and mainstream outlets alike. The Gateway Pundit's account wrote Tuesday that "Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as US Ambassador to Greece on Tuesday shortly after the White House announced that she was asked to step down from her role," directing readers to the rest of the story. ABC's account carried the White House briefing line repeatedly as the news broke, and its later post tied the resignation request to the report about donor access. The Washington Times carried the resignation as a completed step-down, while Fox News, BBC News, PBS News and other outlets framed the ouster around the corruption and misconduct allegations.
Next News Network could not independently verify the allegations of improper conduct or the authenticity of the messages described in the reporting.
The sequence of the day ran quickly. ABC's account posted the resignation request during the Tuesday morning briefing, then posted again minutes later with the same breaking line, and again with a link to further reading. By mid-afternoon the same account added the detail that the announcement followed a report that Guilfoyle allegedly offered a Trump donor access to top administration officials. The Gateway Pundit's account posted shortly after three in the afternoon that Guilfoyle had resigned shortly after being asked to step down. The Washington Times posted at five that she stepped down after the White House asked for her resignation over allegations of improper conduct during her time at the embassy.
At the briefing, a reporter noted that the Daily Mail had been reporting on Guilfoyle since last year, that the president said the day before to reporters that he was considering firing her, and asked whether there was a timeline and who might be on the short list to replace her. Zacharia answered with the request that Guilfoyle resign and the wish that she be well. No replacement was named.
Guilfoyle's exit closes a nearly year-long tenure in Athens that had been marked by mounting questions about her conduct. The allegations now in circulation center on whether she sought financial help from a donor connected to the administration she served, a claim her attorney has disputed and that she has said she will fight. The White House's public position, delivered by its new press secretary in her first briefing, is that Guilfoyle was asked to resign and that the administration wishes her well.
Our Take
The White House did the right thing asking for the resignation, but it should not have taken a Wall Street Journal report and a donor's screenshots to get there. The allegations against Kimberly Guilfoyle — a hundred-thousand-dollar credit card bill, access to top administration officials, hostile workplace claims at the embassy in Athens — are exactly the kind of thing that should have surfaced long before a Senate confirmation vote. That she held the post for nearly a year while these questions accumulated is the real story, and it is a failure of vetting at the highest level. President Trump's attempt to put distance between himself and Guilfoyle by saying she "wasn't a member of my family" and "dated my son a long time ago" is a dodge, not a defense of the office he asked her to fill. Conservatives who spent years demanding accountability from the last administration should demand it here too. The Senate should ask hard questions about how she got confirmed in the first place, and the White House should explain why it took a newspaper report to act. Cleaning house quickly is better than not cleaning it at all, but the standard has to be higher than catching up to the headlines.
