Kimberly Guilfoyle has been in the media spotlight in recent days after a Republican donor revealed that the ambassador had asked him for the equivalent of one million kronor (about $95,000) as a personal gift - information that, according to Fox News, led President Trump to say, "We are not happy."
However, no decision had been made about Guilfoyle's future until Trump's new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, took questions on Tuesday.
"We have asked her to resign. She has been a valuable employee," Zacharia said in response to the first substantive question she received during her first meeting with reporters at the White House.
Just an hour later, Guilfoyle's formal resignation was announced.
“Desperate”
Kimberly Guilfoyle, formerly engaged to the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and a Fox News host, was appointed ambassador in December 2024, shortly after her relationship with Trump Jr. ended, and took office a year ago.
The allegations by donor Eric Deters were reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last week and concern private messages in which she asked for $100,000 to cover personal credit card debt. The newspaper was able to view the messages, in which she promised that the payment would “not show up anywhere” and would not be visible to the IRS.
Deters never paid her, and instead sent the messages to the IRS. Guilfoyle and the entire embassy in Athens are now being investigated by the State Department for possible crimes, according to NBC News.
"She was desperate. She said I could ask for anything in the Trump sphere, no wish could be too big," Deters told NBC.
The information also emerged just days after Democrats in Congress urged the State Department to investigate Guilfoyle over her close ties to a lobbyist and because, according to the WSJ, she boasted about close contacts with Greek businessmen who paid for luxury trips for her.
Praised Trump
Katie Zacharia's response about Guilfoyle roused an otherwise cautious press corps that until then had had to settle for non-news about the president's successes and how Zacharia's role was to "develop Trump's fantastic agenda."
The first to ask Zacharia questions - she succeeds Karoline Leavitt, who resigned in August - were the far-right site Breitbart and Fox News, media outlets that both chose to praise Trump and Zacharia instead of asking critical questions.
Aside from them, only the right-leaning Daily Mail was given the floor, and it was in response to its question about whether Guilfoyle would come that Zacharia answered. Shortly afterwards, Zacharia ended her press conference after just 14 minutes.
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