Why did Trump fire ‘MAGA royalty’ & US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, & what will happen next?

The news that the United States will be replacing its ambassador to Greece is usually a story that would have little interest outside of Greece or the U.S.

But Kimberly Guilfoyle is no ordinary ambassador.

Guilfoyle is a lawyer, a former host on the conservative Fox News Channel, the former wife of the incumbent governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr.

Her firing comes scant weeks before a hotly contested midterm election, after a Trump donor told the Wall Street Journal that she offered him access to senior administration officials in exchange for money, which he called ‘pay to play.

So who is Guilfoyle, why has she been removed from her post, and what has she been accused of?

Who is Kimberly Guilfoyle?

Guilfoyle has been described as “MAGA royalty”. She was the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., although they eventually broke up, with Don Jr. marrying Bettina Anderson in 2026.

She had been with Don Jr. since 2018 and rose to national prominence as a presenter for the conservative TV channel Fox News.

But the 57-year-old Guilfoyle got her start in the notably liberal city of San Francisco, where the Sacramento Bee says she first worked as a public school teacher, then a prosecutor.

She served as a prosecutor both in San Francisco and Los Angeles; in the latter, she maintained a 97 per cent conviction rate, according to the Bee.

It was also in San Francisco that she met her first husband, Gavin Newsom, being married for nearly five years.

Newsom would go on to become mayor of San Francisco, and then governor of California, and is anticipated to be a serious contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, despite not yet announcing a bid for the role.

Sent to Greece

An article in The New York Times said that Guilfoyle was announced for her ambassadorial role a day after Don Jr. was seen with another woman in December 2024.

The NYT said the timing suggested Trump wanted her out of the country at an awkward moment for his son, who went on to marry Anderson this year. Guilfoyle’s allies said that was not the case

Her appointment was met with some apprehension on the part of the Greek establishment, but she appears to have been quite effective in her role.

Guilfoyle has long been a controversial figure, and, as a media personality, was known to be enthusiastic in her support for Trump, but also for her own firebrand opinions; notably, she once suggested that Greeks were “freeloaders” during the Greek Financial crisis in 2015.

But it is for things she said after she was nominated as ambassador that have brought about her downfall.

Credit cards and private jets

Since the end of September 2026, the Wall Street Journal has published a series of articles detailing corruption allegations.

As of Oct. 14, Guilfoyle is alleged to have

• Promoted a Greek construction firm and worked closely with its top lobbyist, even calling administration officials.
• Sought US$100,000 (S$128,233) from Trump donor Eric Deters in order to pay off her credit card debt.
• Accepted private jet travel and hospitality from a Greek shipping magnate.

The Deters' request has exploded, with leaked texts showing Guilfoyle telling Deters to send money directly to American Express, and that if he did, “it won’t show up anywhere.”

“Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” the texts showed her saying, along with a praying hands emoji and instructions on how to pay her bill.

These texts were sent in July 2025, when Guilfoyle was facing congressional hearings for her ambassadorship.

Guilfoyle, through her lawyers, has rejected many of the accusations against her, for instance, suggesting that the texts were either faked or were payment for previously rendered services.

Rejection

However, Deters has been vigorously refuting her defences.

Deters has confirmed the texts regarding her credit card bill, amongst other things, and said that he did not pay her bill.

He also said that he had used her to lobby the Trump administration’s Justice Department on his behalf using her close connections to Trump and his family, but to no effect.

The WSJ reports prompted Democrats from the House and Senate foreign affairs committees to urge the U.S. Department of State to review her conduct.

Guilfoyle, through a lawyer, disputed the texts' authenticity.

She was initially defended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Oct. 7 spoke in the Greek capital of Athens, where he said that the local U.S. embassy had been doing a “great job” and that “our ambassador has been a strong ambassador.”

But by Oct. 11, the AP reported via the Guardian that Trump and Rubio were “extremely pissed off” by her conduct, and were considering her position, effectively firing her a few days later on Oct. 13.

Trump distanced himself and his family from Guilfoyle, saying that she was not a family member but that “she, I guess, dated my son a long time ago,” according to the BBC.

Keep her head down

The New York Post suggested that Guilfoyle’s best hope in avoiding punishment for the allegations was a presidential pardon from Trump.

It reported that unnamed sources in the White House were warning that she “would need a pardon”, something that she would only get if she “behaved.”

One advised that “if I were her, I’d probably shut up and hope for it.”

But on Oct. 14, the New Republic reported rumours that Guilfoyle is keeping a "burn book" on the Trump family, containing all manner of negative information on them.

It reported that Guilfoyle was planning to "burn bridges", with one source describing her return to the U.S. as "a nightmare" as she "knows where the bodies are buried."