Kimberly Guilfoyle Resigns as US Ambassador to Greece
Kimberly Guilfoyle has resigned as the United States Ambassador to Greece, less than a year after she arrived in Athens. The White House said on Tuesday, October 13, that it had asked her to step down, and she announced her departure within about two hours.
Her exit follows weeks of reporting in The Wall Street Journal about her conduct, and a probe by the State Department's Office of Inspector General. Guilfoyle denies any wrongdoing.
What the White House said
The request was confirmed by new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia at her first briefing. “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” she told reporters. “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
President Donald Trump had said a day earlier that his administration was looking at removing her and was not happy. On Tuesday he told reporters she had been doing a good job, but that the White House did not like what it was reading.
The allegations
The Journal reported that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to cover a $100,000 credit card bill shortly before her Senate confirmation hearing last year, and that access to administration officials was discussed in return. Her lawyers say the money was payment for earlier speaking engagements.
Other reports in the series said she claimed she could use US influence against the Greek government, talked about Greek business figures paying for luxury trips, and promoted the interests of a Greek construction and energy company, including letting one of its lobbyists sit in on private diplomatic meetings. NBC News and others noted they had not independently confirmed all of the claims.
Her response
In a post on X, Guilfoyle said serving as ambassador had been the honor of a lifetime and that her loyalty to President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unchanged. “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” she wrote.
How Athens is reacting
The Greek government has kept its distance. Before the announcement, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said the Foreign Ministry had received no request from Washington, that Athens was following developments, and that cooperation with the United States as a strategic ally remained at the highest level. After the White House move, Foreign Ministry sources described it as an internal matter for the US administration and said Greece was waiting for official word from the American side.
Opposition parties called for explanations. Dimitris Mantzos, foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition party PASOK, said the episode raised serious and unanswered questions, and asked whether Greek officials would demand an explanation.
What happens next
Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor and television host who was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr., presented her credentials to Greek President Konstantinos Tassoulas on November 4, 2025. She was the first woman to serve as US ambassador to Greece.
No successor has been named. Until a new ambassador is nominated and confirmed by the US Senate, the embassy in Athens is expected to be run by a senior diplomat acting as head of mission. The change comes at a busy time for Greek and US ties, with cooperation on energy, defense and the ports of Souda Bay and Alexandroupolis high on the agenda. Neither the State Department nor the US Embassy in Athens had commented publicly on her departure at the time of writing.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Reuters via Yahoo News, Al Jazeera, Proto Thema English, OT.gr and US Embassy and Consulate in Greece. Photo: Official portrait, US Embassy and Consulate in Greece, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
