U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle said Tuesday she would resign, shortly after new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said Guilfoyle was being asked to leave her post.
“While my time as Ambassador may be coming to an end, my commitment to President Trump, the America First movement, and the country I love will never end,” Guilfoyle said in an X post.
Guilfoyle also broadly denied “recent allegations” against her, apparently referring to multiple critical articles in The Wall Street Journal about her conduct before and after becoming an ambassador, which had prompted questions about her job security.
“These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” Guilfoyle said in the post. “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”
The Journal did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Guilfoyle’s post.
President Donald Trump suggested later Tuesday morning that the reporting on Guilfoyle’s conduct prompted the call for her resignation.
“She was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before boarding Marine One.
The president also pushed back when a reporter noted that Guilfoyle, who was previously engaged to Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was almost a member of his family.
“No, she wasn’t a member of my family,” Trump replied. “She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn’t.”
Hours earlier, Zacharia revealed that the White House had urged Guilfoyle to step down.
“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign,” Zacharia said while taking questions from reporters in the White House briefing room for the first time. “She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
Trump had signaled Monday evening that Guilfoyle could be on the chopping block.
“Well, we’re looking at it,” Trump said at the White House when a reporter asked if he was weighing firing the ambassador.
“Yeah, we’re not happy,” he added.
Guilfoyle’s yearlong tenure in Athens was rocked last month by the first of multiple Journal articles on conduct that has raised alarms among ethics experts and former government officials.
A Sept. 25 article alleged Guilfoyle persistently promoted a Greek company and involved a lobbyist for a Greek construction firm in meetings with foreign officials.
Her attorney, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal in response to that article that Guilfoyle has “worked with companies across the energy sector” and has not been focused on one company.
According to an Oct. 7 report from the Journal, Guilfoyle asked Trump donor Eric Deters in July 2025 to wire $100,000 to quietly pay down her American Express bill before her congressional hearing to become an ambassador.
Binnall told the newspaper that Guilfoyle had been paid to speak at events prior to being nominated and “was owed a balance for traveling to and supporting these patriotic events.” Binnall also disputed the authenticity of messages from Guilfoyle reported in the article, but declined to provide specifics, according to the Journal.
On Saturday, the Journal reported that Guilfoyle in January boasted of her close ties to wealthy Greek businessmen as she sought an invite to a dinner being held for Eric Trump, another of the president’s sons.