U.S.
White House asks Guilfoyle to leave Greece ambassadorship
The departure follows a public resignation request from the White House and a series of reported allegations. The claims remain disputed; Guilfoyle says they are false.
Executive summary
- White House made the request: Press Secretary Katie Zacharia said at a White House briefing on Oct. 13 that the administration had asked Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign. President Donald Trump later told reporters the administration did not like what it had been reading about her, according to AP and Reuters.[1][2][3]
- Guilfoyle says she will step down: Guilfoyle announced in a public statement that she would leave the post, describing service as ambassador as an honor. She also called the allegations against her false and said she would defend her name. Her post was a response to the White House request, not an announcement that the allegations had been substantiated.[4][2][5]
- Reports are not findings of misconduct: The reports included an allegation that Guilfoyle sought a $100,000 payment from a donor before her Senate confirmation. She has denied wrongdoing and disputed the authenticity of documents described in reporting. The available public record reviewed here does not establish the allegations as fact.[5][6][2]
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia said on Oct. 13 that the administration had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as U.S. ambassador to Greece. The announcement came during Zacharia’s first press briefing. Trump later said of the decision, “We didn’t like what we were reading,” AP reported. Reuters also reported that the White House had asked Guilfoyle to resign.[1][2][3]
Guilfoyle then announced that she would step down, thanking Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and describing the ambassadorship as the honor of a lifetime. She said the allegations were false and that she intended to defend her name. Her departure followed a week in which Trump had said he was considering firing her and that officials were unhappy with what they had read.[4][2][5]
The scrutiny followed reports by The Wall Street Journal and other outlets about Guilfoyle’s conduct before and during her tenure. CBS News reported that Republican donor Eric Deters said she asked him to wire $100,000 toward her American Express bill in the run-up to her confirmation hearing, and that he did not make the payment. CBS said White House officials were told the text messages between them were authentic, citing people familiar with the matter; The Washington Post separately reported reviewing documents and messages from Deters.[5][6][2]
Guilfoyle has denied the accusations and disputed the authenticity of the documents, the Post reported. The payment allegation is a claim by Deters as described in news reports; it is not a court finding or an established fact in the public materials reviewed for this article. The State Department’s inspector general had opened an investigation into her conduct, according to the Post. No public investigative conclusion was reported alongside the resignation announcement.[6][5][2]
The Senate confirmed Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece by a 51–47 vote on Sept. 18, 2025, according to the Senate’s roll-call record. The post made her the senior U.S. diplomatic representative in Athens. The resignation request therefore ends a high-profile appointment after less than a year, while the reporting that preceded it remains disputed.[7][3][2]
CBS News reported that no successor had been announced at the time of its report. The White House and State Department had not publicly described a transition timetable in the materials reviewed here. The departure does not resolve the allegations; Guilfoyle’s denial and any pending investigative work remain separate from the personnel decision.[5][6]