Guilfoyle faces dismissal, and Trump cannot afford to hesitate

By Tom Beckwith · Reporting from Washington · October 12, 2026

President Donald Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio are weighing the removal of Kimberly Guilfoyle after reports of misconduct, a move necessary to stop the erosion of U.S. diplomatic credibility.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are currently weighing whether to fire U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle. They are right to do so, and they are wrong to hesitate. In the foreign service, credibility is the only currency that matters. Once an envoy begins treating a diplomatic posting as a personal piggy bank or a private concierge service, they cease to be a representative of the state. They become a liability. By allowing Guilfoyle to remain in Athens while the State Department's Office of Inspector General investigates her, the administration is signaling that loyalty to a former campaign fundraiser outweighs the integrity of the U.S. government.

The cost of treating an embassy like a boutique

The primary interest of the United States in Athens is strategic stability. The capability of an ambassador is to project American power through trust and professional distance. Kimberly Guilfoyle has failed both. According to reporting from Fox News and The Guardian, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Guilfoyle asked Trump donor Eric Deters to pay a $100,000 American Express bill shortly before her Senate confirmation. She allegedly urged Deters to wire the money directly to avoid a paper trail. In exchange, she offered access to senior administration officials.

This is not a mere lapse in judgment. It is a transactional approach to governance that poisons the well of diplomacy. When an ambassador sells access, the office is no longer about national interest. It is about a brokerage fee. This pattern extends to her conduct in Greece. Reports indicate she promoted the interests of Aktor Group, a Greek construction and energy company. She allegedly allowed a lobbyist for the firm, Christos Marafatsos, to join private diplomatic meetings.

The internal culture of the embassy has suffered similarly. Sources allege Guilfoyle created a hostile workplace. In one instance, she reportedly demoted a security officer for failing to answer a 4 a.m. request for ice while she was vacationing in Mykonos. This is the behavior of a socialite, not a chief of mission. When the staff stops trusting the boss, the cables stop being honest.

The failure of the "not the gospel" defense

The strongest case for keeping Guilfoyle rests on the argument that these reports are merely media narratives. Secretary Marco Rubio has leaned into this. On Thursday, Rubio told reporters that some believe reports are "the gospel," but added, "It’s not the gospel for me." He previously called her a "strong ambassador" on Wednesday. An advocate for Guilfoyle would argue that the administration should wait for the Inspector General's formal report before acting. They would claim that firing her based on leaked texts and anonymous sources would be a surrender to the press.

That argument fails because diplomacy does not happen in a vacuum. The damage is already done. The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle suggested at a dinner that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government, citing events in Romania. While Greece's energy minister denied the threat, the mere suggestion is a diplomatic catastrophe. It transforms the U.S. from a partner into a bully.

The administration's hesitation is a miscalculation. They are treating this as a domestic PR battle. In a capital, however, the perception of instability is as bad as the reality. The First Impeachment of Donald Trump showed how a crisis of confidence in diplomatic channels can paralyze an administration. By waiting, Rubio and Trump are not protecting a colleague. They are prolonging an embarrassment.

A recurring mechanism of misconduct

This situation is not an isolated personnel glitch. It follows the exact mechanism of the 2019 Ukraine scandal. In both cases, official state authority and diplomatic channels were leveraged to pursue personal financial or political interests. In Ukraine, it was the withholding of aid for a political investigation. In Athens, it is the alleged solicitation of a $100,000 bailout and the promotion of private business interests. Both instances treat the machinery of the State Department as a tool for private gain.

The long record of American diplomacy predicts a grim outcome if Guilfoyle stays. When an ambassador is viewed as a creature of the president's inner circle rather than a professional envoy, the host country stops listening to the embassy and starts lobbying the White House. This bypasses the professional staff and leads to erratic policy. We saw this during the Trump-Ukraine scandal, where non-traditional actors conducted foreign policy. The result was an official investigation and a shattered relationship with a key partner.

Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Gregory Meeks and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, have already called for a review. Rep. Robert Garcia has joined these calls. If the administration does not act, these calls will turn into formal hearings. This will turn a personnel issue into a campaign liability ahead of the November midterms.

The administration's current path is one of managed decline. A senior U.S. official told AP News that Trump and Rubio are "extremely pissed off," yet the ambassador was still greeting Rubio with a warm embrace during his visit to Athens last week. This gap between private anger and public inaction is where credibility dies.

The White House will likely try to recall Guilfoyle under the guise of a standard rotation to avoid a public fight. This would be a mistake. A quiet departure suggests that the behavior was acceptable as long as it remained hidden. The only way to restore the word of the United States in foreign capitals is to demonstrate that the rules apply to everyone, regardless of their relationship with the president's son.

Kimberly Guilfoyle has treated the U.S. Embassy in Athens as a personal asset. Whether the $100,000 payment was made is irrelevant; the attempt alone proves she views her office as a commodity. To keep her is to admit that the American embassy is for sale. She must be dismissed immediately.