Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly tried to convince Trump administration officials that artificial intelligence was behind the text messages in which she allegedly asked a wealthy MAGA donor to help pay off her $100,000 credit card bill. She also asked officials whether they could get an embarrassing story about her scrubbed from the internet.
Neither move saved her job.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the former Fox News host launched an increasingly desperate damage-control campaign as a series of damaging reports threatened her position as U.S. ambassador to Greece. She contacted influential Trump allies, reached out to conservative media figures, and tried to discredit the reporting about her.
Ultimately, President Donald Trump asked her to resign on Tuesday, ending her diplomatic assignment amid mounting allegations about her conduct.
“She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters after announcing the president’s decision.
Guilfoyle, 57, has denied the allegations and vowed to fight them.
But the controversy had been building for weeks, according to the Journal’s reporting, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The trouble began late last month, when the newspaper reported that Guilfoyle had promoted a Greek construction company whose lobbyist reportedly served as one of her advisers.
After that story appeared, Guilfoyle began contacting influential Trump supporters and administration officials, seeking their backing.
Then came the report that appears to have sent her damage-control efforts into overdrive.
On Oct. 7, the Journal reported that Guilfoyle had asked Trump donor Eric Deters to pay off her $100,000 American Express bill in the run-up to her September 2025 Senate confirmation hearing.
“Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” she allegedly texted Deters, asking him to transfer the money in a way that would not leave a paper trail, according to the newspaper.
Guilfoyle’s response, the Journal reported, was to tell White House officials that the messages were not legitimate and had been generated by artificial intelligence.
Officials reportedly weren’t convinced.
Guilfoyle’s representatives have disputed the authenticity of the messages and argued that Deters owed her money for speaking engagements and consulting work. Deters has denied owing her anything and threatened to sue her and her legal team for defamation.
Then another report piled on.
Over the weekend, the Journal published a story alleging that Guilfoyle had boasted about her close relationships with two Greek tycoons and said they were financing her lavish international trips.
The reports reportedly left the atmosphere at the U.S. Embassy in Athens increasingly tense. Guilfoyle watched television coverage about herself with the sound turned off and began suspecting members of her security detail and embassy staff of leaking information, according to the Journal.
She also contacted Matthew Boyle, Breitbart’s Washington bureau chief, asking him to vouch for her with the Trump administration.
And that wasn’t the end of her efforts to contain the fallout.
Earlier this month, Guilfoyle reportedly asked State Department officials whether they could get a Daily Mail article removed from the internet. The article said she had failed to pay a $1,769 bill for dinner and Champagne.
When officials asked her to provide evidence that the bill had been paid, she reportedly never produced a receipt.
Meanwhile, Trump administration officials had already been discussing whether to remove Guilfoyle from her position.
The Journal reported that senior aides discussed the possibility in early October, including while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting Greece from Oct. 6 to 8.
Rubio reportedly did not want Guilfoyle’s potential departure to overshadow a speech he was scheduled to deliver at the Acropolis in Athens. At the time, he publicly defended her, telling reporters that just because a news outlet reported something based on a source did not make it gospel.
Trump, however, had grown irritated by the allegations and was reportedly concerned that Guilfoyle appeared to be profiting from her connection to his presidency. Some aides also worried about the political optics as Republicans headed toward the midterm elections.
On Tuesday morning, Trump made his decision, instructing Zacharia to tell reporters that he wanted Guilfoyle to resign.
Guilfoyle subsequently issued a lengthy statement on social media, thanking Trump for the opportunity to serve while insisting the allegations were false.
“These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” she wrote. “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”
Trump, for his part, quickly distanced himself from the former Fox News personality, emphasizing that she was not a member of his family and had dated his eldest son years earlier.
Guilfoyle became engaged to Donald Trump Jr. in 2020, but their wedding plans fell apart after he was seen holding hands with Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson in September 2024. Trump Jr. married Anderson in May 2026.
In December 2024, Trump announced that he intended to nominate Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece.
Now, less than two years later, her diplomatic tenure has ended amid a series of damaging reports and unanswered questions.
“She went to Greece, she was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading,” Trump said Tuesday.
For Guilfoyle, the effort to convince the administration that the allegations were false did not prevent her removal. And the controversy surrounding her alleged messages to a wealthy donor is unlikely to disappear simply because her time as ambassador has ended.
