Former Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle confirmed on Tuesday that she’s stepping down as ambassador to Greece. Her announcement came in the wake of a wild Wall Street Journal story detailing her attempt to get a Trump donor to pay off her $100,000 credit card bill.
The former Fox News host — who was forced out of the network in 2018 after questions about inappropriate workplace behavior — called the Athens posting the honor of a lifetime and thanked President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
She when on to the allegations are false and wrote that she intends to “vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.” Her time as ambassador “may be coming to an end,” she added in her post on X, but her support for Trump won’t. If Democrats take either chamber next month, she is likely to face congressional scrutiny.
On her first day at the podium, newly minted White House press secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters Trump had asked Guilfoyle to step down.
“The administration wishes her well,” she said in the messages, according to the report.
An audio recording reviewed by the Journal captured Guilfoyle at Davos discussing private-jet travel and luxury stays paid for by Greek businessmen, including Aktor Group CEO Alexandros Exarchou and shipping executive Nikolas Tsakos.
On the tape she told an American businessman she could “deliver the world” to him and make him “a lot of f—ing money.” The paper reported that she promoted Aktor’s energy deals and allowed the company’s lobbyist into official meetings. At a reception in Athens she said the United States could undermine the Greek government if it chose. Tsakos was also reported to have covered a stay for her at the Four Seasons in Paris.
The Daily Mail quoted embassy staff who described her leadership as “tyrannical.” One account said she demoted a security agent who failed to deliver ice at 4 a.m. in Mykonos. Staff also complained about demands for complimentary champagne and meals. She kept an Aktor lobbyist close, telling aides “I need him.” The State Department’s inspector general is examining the embassy, the publication scooped.
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told CNN last week the reports were “at best horrible optics, and at worst, something that’s worthy of a termination.”
Democrats on the foreign affairs committees had already asked for a review.
Trump said Monday the administration was “looking at it” and “not happy.”
Following the announcement she was leaving the post he further distanced himself from her, telling reporters: “No, she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago. She was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading.”
Multiple Trump-world sources said they were not sad to see her go. One described her as “kind of a bitch.”
