Money Grab/Charge for access to the president
Days before her Senate hearing, Kimberly Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to wire $100,000 to her credit card, according to messages the Wall Street Journal reviewed.
— Kimberly Guilfoyle asks a Trump donor to wire $100K to her Amex days before her confirmation hearing, the WSJ reports.
The donor, Eric Deters, wanted the new administration’s attention on a tax dispute and other matters, and her messages promised access to “every secretary.” He did not pay. Guilfoyle, now ambassador to Greece, disputes the messages’ authenticity.
What happened
On July 3, 2025, six days before her confirmation hearing to be ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle sent Trump donor Eric Deters instructions for wiring money to an American Express account, the Wall Street Journal reported on October 7, 2026. “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express,” she wrote on Signal, according to messages the Journal reviewed. “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today.”
Deters had been seeking her help with the new administration on an IRS dispute and other matters, and had promised payments of up to $1 million if she succeeded. The Journal reported that she forwarded his tax dispute to IRS Commissioner Billy Long and wrote that “every secretary of you know defense, transportation, treasury commerce IRS commissioner everyone gets right back to me.” Deters said he did not pay. The New York Times confirmed the discussions.
Guilfoyle’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, said she disputes the authenticity of the messages but declined to provide specifics. He said she was owed money for speaking at events before her nomination; Deters said he owed her nothing.
Who benefited
No money changed hands, by both sides’ accounts. The messages show an offer of access to the administration from a nominee who was a former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr.
Who wanted something
Deters wanted federal help on his taxes and a Justice Department matter, and had paid Guilfoyle $300,000 in speaking fees over the years, he said. “I am not naive or a sucker. I need results,” he wrote her in 2025.
Who lost out
The public, if the Journal’s account holds: an ambassador’s access to Cabinet officials was offered to a donor in exchange for paying her bills. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to address the report and praised her as “a strong ambassador.”
Why it matters
The pitch was access to the people who run the government, priced at a credit card balance. Guilfoyle was confirmed and serves in Athens; the State Department did not respond to the New York Times’s questions about her conduct.
Sources The Wall Street Journal (via To Vima)The New York Times (via The Philadelphia Inquirer)FOX 32 Chicago