The White House has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece, to step down, new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday.
At her first White House press briefing since taking over from Karoline Leavitt, Zacharia confirmed that Guilfoyle had been asked to resign, calling her “an incredible asset to the team.”
Zacharia, continued by adding, “we wish her well,” though did not say whether she had already stepped down.
Guilfoyle’s position became untenable after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article looking at her supposed threats against Greece, her acceptance of improper gifts and most damning perhaps, text messages documenting her attempts to grift cash from a Republican donor in exchange for influence that she was unable to deliver with Trump.
Trump before firing: ‘We’re not happy’
The past week has seen much speculation as to whether Guilfolyle would have to go, with the Associated Press (AP) revealing that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “extremely pissed off” over the former Fox News host’s conduct.
On Monday, Trump said “we’re looking at it” when asked if Guilfoyle could be fired, adding, “we’re not happy.”
Rubio initially defended Guilfoyle and continued to do so in Greece last week, saying, “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”
Ultimately, however, he lashed out at journalists for asking about the allegations against Guilfoyle, accusing them of seeing their own reporting as “gospel” and insisting that he would not comment until he knew the whole story.
Guilfoyle has yet to address the accusations, though on Sunday her lawyers said that she had done nothing wrong.
There have been mixed reports suggesting that the State Department’s investigator general might look into the matter, though this has not yet been confirmed.
Top Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate have called for investigations.
What exactly is Guilfoyle accused of?
Guilfoyle, a TV personality who was formerly married to California Governor Gavin Newsom and later engaged to Trump’s eldest son Don Jr., has been accused of numerous improprieties during her tenure in Greece — an important NATO ally, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean and in terms of Red Sea shipping security.
Among other things, she is said to have bragged about luxury travel and the perks of chumming with energy company executives before threatening that the US could easily undermine Greek democracy if it did not get what it wanted from the host country.
She also appeared to favor shady deals with individual Greek construction and energy company execs, going so far as to bring their lobbyists to top-level diplomatic meetings.
Guilfoyle was further reported to have alienated embassy staffer with her behavior and reportedly exploded after not being invited to a Greek-themed event at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, demanding she be allowed to attend.
The straw that broke the camel’s back, however, was a media offensive started by GOP donor Eric Deters, who grew weary of Guilfoyle’s insistence that he pay off her in exchange for influence that she had been unable to deliver.
Deters began doing media interviews with any outlet that would listen after the WSJ story broke, publishing embarrassing text chains in which Guilfoyle implored him to transfer $100,000 (€89, 400) to her American Express card, writing, “Honey please, I need you to get this done for me today.”
Deters, who said he had already paid her $300,000 and had gotten nothing in return, told numerous US media outlets the deal was “absolutely a quid pro quo” and that he had warned Guilfoyle that he would go public about their dealings if she could not rectify the situation.
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