Kimberly Guilfoyle
Introduction
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US Ambassador to Greece, former Fox News host and ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., was reported to have begged a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 American Express bill days before her Senate confirmation hearing, offering in exchange to put his legal and tax problems in front of top officials in the Trump administration and promising to be his “Trump ride or die, forever and ever.” The July 2025 Signal messages were reported by The Wall Street Journal in October 2026 and immediately drew accusations from a former White House ethics lawyer that the exchange amounted to an attempted quid pro quo by a sitting ambassador. Guilfoyle, through her attorney, disputes the authenticity of the messages.
Background Information
Guilfoyle built her career as a prosecutor in San Francisco and later a Fox News host, and was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. before President Trump nominated her as ambassador to Greece in late 2024. The Senate confirmed her 51-47 on September 18, 2025. She was previously married to California Governor Gavin Newsom early in his career.
The man she pressed for money, Eric Deters, is a 63-year-old Kentucky attorney, former congressional candidate and one-time Ohio radio DJ who founded the Covid-era anti-mandate event Freedom Fest, where Guilfoyle was paid a reported $300,000 to appear alongside other Trump family members. FEC records cited by the Journal show he donated $125,000 to a pro-Trump PAC in 2022. After the 2024 election he asked Guilfoyle to help him with two problems: an IRS investigation into a 2020 deduction he claimed on the sale of a stake in his family business, and his effort to secure the extradition of an Ohio doctor who had fled to Pakistan after being charged with defrauding insurers by performing unnecessary surgeries on children.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Reported, denied, uncharged. The $100,000 request comes from Signal messages published by The Wall Street Journal; Guilfoyle disputes the messages’ authenticity, denies wrongdoing, and has not been accused of any crime or investigated. The payment, per the Journal, was never made. Everything here is an unadjudicated report she contests.
According to the Journal’s report and the images it published, on July 3, 2025 — six days before her confirmation hearing — Guilfoyle texted Deters on Signal: “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” followed by a praying-hands emoji and a PDF of American Express payment instructions. “You could just send it here,” she wrote. “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that’s all that will show. Please.” Deters balked — “Your needing $100,000 urgent unfortunately is not going to work,” he replied, adding he couldn’t do it “without getting a divorce” — and Guilfoyle persisted: “I’ve been calling you for over a week straight. You could be here meeting with [then-IRS Commissioner] Billy Long.” She dangled the quid in plain terms: pay, and “I will be your Trump ride or die, forever and ever.” He never paid, and later told the paper “she never came through on anything.”
Through the correspondence she repeatedly pressed for discretion: “Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things. It’s really dangerous and not helpful to you or me while you could simply just call me on Signal,” she wrote in one message, and in another, after he put details in writing: “What a nightmare, you’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing.” Her attorney, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal she disputed the authenticity of the messages but did not offer specifics, and did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Norm Eisen, who served as White House ethics lawyer under Obama and later as ambassador to the Czech Republic, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper the messages were “one of the worst things that I have ever seen with respect to a U.S. ambassador. It stinks to high heaven.” He said they raise serious questions about a potential quid pro quo by a nominee — who remains covered by the federal bribery statute — while noting “I’m not saying that there was bribery here. Bribery is tough to prove, Ambassador Guilfoyle denies it, but these texts are like nothing I’ve ever seen,” and called the secrecy language evidence of “a consciousness of wrongdoing.” Cooper noted on air that Guilfoyle has not been accused of any crime or investigated. Eisen added the affair would likely become part of a congressional investigation if control of Congress changes hands, and flagged earlier questions about her closeness to an energy company and a lobbyist in Greece.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting Greece, declined to address the story, scolding reporters: “You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel.” An embassy official defended her: “She was fully vetted by the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The ambassador remains committed to representing the American people with dedication and integrity.”
Current Status
Guilfoyle remains US Ambassador to Greece. No investigation, charge or proceeding against her has been reported; the Journal’s report and the surrounding reaction are the entire controversy to date. Her attorney has disputed the messages’ authenticity without specifics, and she has denied any wrongdoing. Rubio said he had no idea whether the report was true and would not address it.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The report landed on an ambassador six weeks into a Senate-confirmed diplomatic post and put “quid pro quo” coverage on every major outlet the same day; Eisen predicted the messages would anchor a congressional investigation under a future Congress and called them the most serious questions he has seen about a sitting US ambassador. Her Senate confirmation — 51-47, already a narrow vote — is now revisited in coverage that notes the request came days before her hearing. Whether it ends her tenure or fades depends on facts no outlet has yet reported: no inquiry has been announced, and the White House and State Department have not distanced themselves from her beyond Rubio’s refusal to engage.
Sources
- NY Post, “Kimberly Guilfoyle begged Trump donor to pay $100K AmEx bill ahead of confirmation as Greece ambassador: ‘Honey please’” — source
- The Independent, “Kimberly Guilfoyle pleaded with MAGA donor for $100,000 to pay American Express: report” — source
- Raw Story, “Trump official’s leaked Signal chats astound legal expert: ‘I can’t believe my eyes’” — source