White House asks Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as ambassador to Greece

Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as United States ambassador to Greece on Tuesday after the White House asked her to step down. New press secretary Katie Zacharia announced the request at her first briefing. “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” she said. “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”

President Donald Trump confirmed the decision on the South Lawn while leaving for a campaign event in Alaska. “She will not be there. I didn’t like what I read,” he told reporters. He added that he had not spoken with Guilfoyle personally and downplayed their past connection through his son. Guilfoyle was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr.

The request followed a series of Wall Street Journal reports that described alleged improper conduct before and during her tenure in Athens. The reports included claims that she asked a Republican donor for help paying a large credit-card bill before her Senate confirmation, accepted gifts and services, and brought a lobbyist into official meetings. Guilfoyle has denied the allegations.

In a post on X she wrote that serving as ambassador “has been the honor of a lifetime” and that her commitment to the president and the country would continue. She addressed the reports directly: “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity. I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”

Guilfoyle, 57, was confirmed by the Senate in a largely party-line vote. She had served as a Fox News personality, a prosecutor in San Francisco, and a senior adviser on Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns. Her year in Athens was marked by the Journal stories that appeared in recent weeks. A White House official said the formal resignation had been received by Tuesday afternoon.

The State Department’s inspector general had already opened a review of her conduct, according to people familiar with the matter. Sources told CBS News that Guilfoyle had been reluctant to leave in the days before the briefing, but the public request left little room to stay. Trump had signalled on Monday that the administration was “looking at it” and was “not happy.”

The departure removes a high-profile figure with close ties to the Trump family from a diplomatic post at a moment of heightened tension in the eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East. Greece is a NATO ally and a key partner on energy routes and migration. The White House has not named a successor. Guilfoyle’s lawyers have previously said she sought and followed ethics guidance from the State Department on gifts and travel.

For now the public record consists of the White House request, Trump’s comment that he disliked what he had read, Guilfoyle’s denial, and the underlying Journal reporting that prompted the review. Whether further investigative steps follow the resignation remains open.