Kimberly Guilfoyle leaves US embassy in Athens

The White House asked US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign on Tuesday, October 13. Greece is a member of the EU and NATO and a southern neighbor of the Balkans, so events at the American embassy in Athens are watched closely in the region Serbia belongs to, particularly when they concern how Washington picks and removes its representatives among allies.

New White House press secretary Katie Zaharia announced it at her first press briefing. Guilfoyle confirmed on X the same day that she is leaving her post, but she did not say when she would formally depart and did not directly address the White House request, Fox News reported.

What did the White House say?

Zaharia kept her answer short:

We asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to submit her resignation. She was a valued member of our team and we wish her all the best.

A day earlier, on Monday, President Donald Trump had publicly acknowledged that he was considering removing her. On Tuesday, asked by reporters about his son’s former fiancée, he said she had not been part of his family: “She wasn’t a member of my family. She dated my son a long time ago.” He added that she had “done a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading.”

Guilfoyle was in a relationship with Donald Trump Jr. for six years, four of them as his fiancée. They split in December 2024, the same month Trump nominated her as ambassador to Athens. Before her diplomatic career she was a prosecutor in California and worked with Trump on his campaigns.

In her post on X she wrote that the allegations are false: “These allegations are false and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation and my integrity.” She also said she remains a Trump supporter and that serving as ambassador was the honor of her life.

What is she accused of?

The list of allegations comes from articles in the Wall Street Journal and Britain’s Daily Mail. Guilfoyle rejects them.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that before her Senate hearing in July 2025, she asked Republican donor Eric Deters for $100,000 to cover a credit card debt. Deters said he never paid the money.
• Her attorney, Jesse Binnall, disputes the authenticity of the messages the paper published and says Deters owed her money for appearances before her appointment.
• According to the Daily Mail, embassy staff described her management as tyrannical, and a security officer was reportedly demoted and transferred for not answering her 4 a.m. call to bring ice while she was on Mykonos.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that she promoted the interests of the Greek construction and energy company Aktor and brought its lobbyist, Christos Marafatsos, to private diplomatic meetings.
• The same paper says that at a dinner with Greek officials she hinted the US might undermine their government, alongside an invitation to events in Romania. The Greek foreign minister then said there was no need to summon her for an explanation, because the energy minister had denied any threat was made.
• The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General has reportedly opened an investigation into her treatment of employees, private trips and gifts. The office has neither confirmed nor denied it.

Binnall told the Daily Mail that “any suggestion of unlawful conduct by the ambassador is unsubstantiated,” in our translation.

How did Washington and Athens react?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Greece last week, first defended her work. “Our ambassador here has been a strong ambassador,” he told reporters. A day later he declined to address the allegations and chided reporters for relying on unnamed sources. Vice President JD Vance said in Ohio on Friday that people should wait for the facts: “Let’s see what the facts are. Let’s see what the truth is.” Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Representative Gregory Meeks, both Democrats, called for a review of her conduct.

The Greek government declined to comment, saying it is an internal US matter. The opposition PASOK said the case raises questions about diplomacy driven by personal interests, while SIRIZA criticized the government for not taking the allegations from American media seriously enough.

Who will run the embassy in Athens?

Until a new ambassador is appointed, Chargé d’affaires Joshua Huck will run the embassy on an interim basis. According to the newspaper Ta Nea, Guilfoyle spent less than a year at the head of the embassy, the shortest tenure of any US ambassador to Greece since World War II. The same paper reports that officials in Athens believe her departure could ease communication with Washington ahead of a possible Trump visit to Greece.

It is not known when Guilfoyle will formally leave her post or who will be nominated to succeed her.