White House has asked Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, new Trump press secretary says

Politics & Policy
Published Tue, Oct 13 2026 9:58 AM EDT

Updated 17 Min Ago
Kevin Breuninger

Key Points

• The White House has asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, press secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday in her debut briefing.
• President Donald Trump signaled less than a day earlier that Guilfoyle, who was previously engaged to his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could be on the chopping block.
• Guilfoyle’s tenure was rocked by multiple Wall Street Journal articles on conduct that has raised alarms among ethics experts and former government officials.

The White House has asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, press secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday in her debut briefing.

“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” Zacharia said while taking questions from reporters at the White House for the first time.

“She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” Zacharia said of Guilfoyle, whose status has come under an avalanche of scrutiny following multiple critical articles about her conduct before and after becoming an ambassador.

Zacharia did not provide additional details. The White House responded to CNBC’s request for more information by referring back to Zacharia’s comments.

President Donald Trump signaled less than a day earlier that Guilfoyle, who was previously engaged to his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could be on the chopping block.

“Well, we’re looking at it,” Trump said at the White House when a reporter asked if he was weighing firing the ambassador.

“Yeah, we’re not happy,” he added.

An attorney for Guilfoyle did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Zacharia’s remark.

Guilfoyle’s yearlong tenure in Athens was rocked last month by the first of multiple Wall Street Journal articles on conduct that has raised alarms among ethics experts and former government officials.

A Sept. 25 article alleged Guilfoyle persistently promoted a Greek company and involved a lobbyist for a Greek construction firm in meetings with foreign officials.

Her attorney, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal in response to that article that Guilfoyle has “worked with companies across the energy sector” and has not been focused on one company.

According to an Oct. 7 report from the Journal, Guilfoyle asked Trump donor Eric Deters in July 2025 to wire $100,000 to quietly pay down her American Express bill prior to her congressional hearing to become an ambassador.

Binnall told the newspaper that Guilfoyle had been paid to speak at events before being nominated and “was owed a balance for traveling to and supporting these patriotic events.” Binnall also disputed the authenticity of messages from Guilfoyle reported in the article, but declined to provide specifics, according to the Journal.

On Saturday, the Journal reported that Guilfoyle in January boasted of her close ties to wealthy Greek businessmen as she sought an invite to a dinner being held for Eric Trump, another of the president’s sons.

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