It was the first press briefing of the new White House spokeswoman, Katie Zacharias , on the morning of Tuesday, October 13. A question about the US ambassador to Athens and a one-line answer that fell like a thunderbolt. “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign.” The reporters in the room were speechless. Less than two hours later, Kimberly Guilfoyle announced to X that she was leaving.
Thus ended, on live broadcast , one of the most tumultuous diplomatic stints the American embassy in Athens has ever seen. Behind the public humiliation lies a week of panic, early-morning phone calls, suspected leaks, and a president who simply lost his patience .
Did he know or not?
The answer is both yes and no . Guilfoyle had been feeling the ground shaking under her feet since late September, when the Wall Street Journal revealed that she had been promoting a Greek construction company while working closely with its top lobbyist. From that moment on, she began calling government officials and prominent Trump supporters , often in the early hours of the morning in Athens, asking for support.
So she knew she was in danger. What she didn’t seem to know was when and how the axe would fall. According to the WSJ, even early Tuesday morning she was assuring aides that she would survive the scandal. Trump did not speak to her before making the decision, something he himself confirmed. CBS sources describe an ambassador who in recent days did not want to resign, until the announcement from the White House podium left her no choice .
Until the end, she tried to show that everything was going well. On Monday, she posted a photo with the Spanish ambassador for Spain’s national day and wished Lara Trump a happy birthday. A few hours later, she was out. According to the Daily Mail, after the announcement, she was in complete disarray and threatened to withdraw her resignation, while an official commented that she should have resigned before they got to the point of firing her in front of the cameras.
The hug that became a burden
Marco Rubio found himself in the eye of the storm without seeking it. The secretary of state and his close aides were already flying to Athens last week when they learned that the Journal was preparing a story about the $100,000. Officials describe a startled and irritated team, sending messages to Washington to assess the damage. A few days earlier, Rubio had praised Guilfoyle as a highly effective advocate for Trump’s agenda.
The ambassador was waiting for him at the airport. She greeted the plane in front of the cameras and welcomed him with hugs and kisses , images that made the rounds in the Greek media and that she herself was quick to post to deny any rumors of a rift. According to a senior American official who spoke to the Associated Press, Rubio was particularly angry , among other things because she attended almost all of his events while the allegations were flaring up.
Publicly, however, the minister held his ground. On Wednesday, he said that the ambassador “has been a strong ambassador here.” On Thursday, on the flight deck and with Guilfoyle watching, he lashed out at reporters who asked him about the reports, saying that such matters are not decided at a press conference on the tarmac of a foreign airport.
The background was completely different. Trump aides were discussing her removal while Rubio was still in Greece . But the secretary of state did not want anything to overshadow his tour, especially his carefully staged speech on Western civilization on the Acropolis at sunset. Before the president made his decision, a more elegant scenario was also being considered, inviting Guilfoyle to Washington for a meeting with Rubio that would subtly nudge her towards the exit .
The American Express card and the alibi of artificial intelligence
The story that rocked Rubio’s tour involved Eric Deters , a Trump donor and former congressional candidate. He told CBS that in July 2025, shortly before his Senate confirmation hearing, Guilfoyle asked him to deposit $100,000 into his American Express account so the debt wouldn’t show up on his tax returns. Deters called the request “pay to play,” as he sought access to officials like the attorney general and the IRS. He ultimately didn’t send the money because, he says, he didn’t have it available at the time.
Guilfoyle’s reaction was to sink her even further. She contacted White House officials claiming that the messages were artificially generated . They didn’t believe her. Journal reporters had already verified their authenticity, and the White House had been told they were genuine . Her lawyers insist that the messages have not been authenticated and that Deters owed her about $150,000 for speaking and consulting fees.
Private jets, shipowners and the wrath of Davos
The third blow came on Saturday. The WSJ published recorded conversations in which the ambassador allegedly boasts about private jet flights and luxury hotel stays in Europe, at the expense of wealthy Greek businessmen, including shipowner Nikolas Tsakos . In another recording, from the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, she erupts in profanity because she was left off the guest list at a dinner for Eric Trump.
The Daily Mail followed with a more mundane but equally embarrassing episode, an alleged unpaid bill of €1,586 for two cases of champagne and dinner. Guilfoyle asked the State Department to have the article taken down from the internet. When they asked for proof of payment, she never produced it .
Trump pulls the plug
The president has been watching the reports with growing discomfort. On Friday, when questioned by CNN, he did not utter a word of defense . On Sunday, a senior official described a furious Trump and Rubio. On Monday, he admitted he was considering firing her, saying he was not happy.
According to those who spoke to him, he was angered by how brazen the allegations seemed, especially the image that Guilfoyle was making money off his presidency . His advisers feared the case would fuel the narrative of collusion just weeks before the midterm elections .
On Tuesday morning, in preparation for Zacharias’ first briefing, Trump instructed her to announce that he was calling for the ambassador’s resignation. A little later, he was terse. “She did a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading.” And he did something else, completely distancing himself . In March, at an event for Greek Independence, he called her an old friend and a source of inspiration. Now he noted that she was never a member of his family, just dating his son a long time ago. Even Donald Trump Jr. , according to CBS sources, now maintains polite but minimal contact with her.
Witch hunt at the white marble embassy
As the reports piled up, the atmosphere at the embassy grew tense. Guilfoyle relentlessly sought out the leakers , turning her suspicions on staff and even her security team. Visitors to Jefferson House , the embassy residence she had decorated with large portraits of herself, would see her looking over their shoulder at the muted television, where reports of her troubles were playing.
In a last-ditch effort, she even called Matthew Boyle , Breitbart’s Washington bureau chief, asking him to lobby the government on her behalf. He didn’t arrive.
What does she leave behind?
The resignation does not close the case. The State Department ’s Office of Inspector General is investigating whether he received improper benefits from private interests. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is calling for him to testify and be investigated for soliciting money from others, while Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is calling on Rubio to ensure that ambassadors hold themselves to the highest standards. If Democrats win in the midterms, the investigations could gain new momentum .
The scandal also hits energy diplomacy . Guilfoyle had toured the Balkans convincing countries from Albania to Romania and Ukraine to sign memoranda for American natural gas, mainly through Aktor and its joint venture with a company backed by the Greek state. Albania now doubts the viability of the agreement, Naftogaz has broken off negotiations and the memorandum of understanding with Romania’s Transgaz has expired. Aktor responds that the twenty-year contract with Albania is binding and discussions with the others are continuing.
In Athens, the main opposition is demanding explanations about whether the ambassador used her role for private interests. No name for a successor was circulating at the White House on Tuesday.
Guilfoyle said goodbye by describing her tenure as the greatest honor of her life, thanked Trump and Rubio and promised to vigorously defend her name. The thanks to the Greek people were added retrospectively , with a correction to the post. A detail that says a lot about the end of a term of less than a year, which began with noise and ended with a question at a podium .
