Earlier in this investigation: Trump's ambassador to Greece told Greek officials the US could topple allied governments if it wants; US ambassador to Greece dined with politicians who joined the far right to topple Romania's government; A private jet flew a Romanian judge, a senator and state company chiefs to Mykonos to meet unnamed US investors; Before Greece post, Guilfoyle sought $100K from donor Eric Deters while lobbying IRS chief on his behalf.
Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, said at her first briefing on 13 October: "We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well." President Donald Trump said the day before that his administration was "looking at" removing her. "We're not happy," he said. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were furious about the allegations, according to people familiar with their views.
Guilfoyle, 57, a former Fox News host and former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., arrived in Athens on 1 November 2025, less than a year before the White House asked her to leave.
Romania
Guilfoyle told Greek and US officials at a dinner in Athens in March, while discussing the impending collapse of Romania's government, "We can do that to any country we want. We can do that here," according to an attendee. A second source confirmed the remark and dated the dinner to 18 March. Stavros Papastavrou, the Greek energy minister, told her the United States could not replace an elected Greek government. Jesse Binnall, her lawyer, disputed the account.
On 31 March Guilfoyle dined at the Isoletta restaurant in Bucharest with Sorin Grindeanu, leader of Romania's Social Democratic Party (PSD), the energy minister Bogdan Ivan and Florin Vlădică, an adviser to President Nicușor Dan. Christos Marafatsos, a registered lobbyist paid by the Greek group Aktor, was there for what his lawyer said was 15 minutes. Footage of the dinner was published in Romania on 24 April. The PSD left Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's coalition the next day, filed a no-confidence motion with the far-right AUR on 28 April and brought the government down on 5 May.
Ivan had written to Dan and Bolojan on 16 January asking for a state agreement to buy US liquefied natural gas through Nova Power & Gas, the Romanian partner of Atlantic-SEE LNG Trade, a venture 60 per cent owned by Aktor. The state producer Romgaz had rejected a 20-year Atlantic-SEE contract in December 2025, estimating losses of up to €310 million a year, and Bolojan's government withheld the mandate Ivan sought. Grindeanu said the dinner concerned Romania's transit role in the Vertical Gas Corridor, which carries US gas north from Greece.
Oana Țoiu, Romania's foreign minister, said on 28 September that Guilfoyle's visit was a private business event "outside any mandate of representation, negotiation or relation with Romanian state institutions". Alexandru Dimitriu, a deputy from the Save Romania Union, filed treason complaints against Grindeanu, Ivan and AUR leader George Simion over their contacts with her. Romania has had a caretaker government since May; President Dan nominated Luca Niculescu as prime minister on 5 October, his fourth attempt.
Aktor across the Balkans
Guilfoyle promoted Aktor in Bulgaria, Albania and Romania as it sold US gas through Atlantic-SEE. Marafatsos joined her meetings with officials, and Alexandros Exarchou, Aktor's chief executive, flew her to Sofia on a private jet. Albania signed a $6 billion, 20-year agreement in April 2026 to buy gas through an Aktor subsidiary. Her lawyers said her use of private aircraft complied with the rules and had State Department clearance.
Money around the ambassador
Aktor paid Marafatsos $160,000 through June 2026 to "establish connections" with the White House, the State Department and the Energy Department, federal lobbying filings show, and his firm reported about $440,000 from five Greece-linked clients in nine months. Aktor expects €1.8 billion in pre-tax income over 20 years from the gas agreements Guilfoyle promoted. Its chief executive flew her to Sofia on his jet, where she urged Bulgaria's president to deal with the company.
Nova Power & Gas, the Romanian partner Ivan proposed for the gas purchase, is controlled by the brothers Teofil and Simion Mureșan. Nova bought land at Doicești for €7.3 million in 2021 and sold it in June 2025 for €24.3 million to a nuclear joint venture they own equally with the state operator Nuclearelectrica. A report by the prime minister's control body found the land overvalued and was sent to the National Anticorruption Directorate in September. The brothers deny causing any loss. Bolojan's government withheld the gas mandate and ordered the Doicești inspection before the PSD brought it down.
Guilfoyle sought a $3 million investment in her vodka company from a Greek businessman in the diaspora around the time of her confirmation, according to a person familiar with the matter, and asked Deters for $100,000 days before her hearing while pressing his tax case with the IRS commissioner. Federal bribery law (18 U.S.C. § 201) applies to nominees as well as serving officials and makes it a crime to corruptly seek "anything of value" in return for being influenced in an official act. The Supreme Court ruled in McDonnell v. United States in 2016 that arranging meetings or contacting other officials does not by itself count as an official act. Her lawyers said she has pursued no private business since entering public service and that her flights had State Department clearance.
The donor
Eric Deters, a Kentucky donor, provided messages showing Guilfoyle asked him on 3 July 2025, six days before her Senate confirmation hearing, to wire $100,000 to her American Express account. "It won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express," she wrote. She had forwarded his tax dispute to Billy Long, the IRS commissioner, weeks earlier. Deters said the request was "pay to play" and did not pay. Her lawyers said the money was a debt for work before she entered government and that she arranged no introductions.
Congress
Rubio defended Guilfoyle in Athens on 7 October, saying "our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here". Gregory Meeks and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrats on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees, wrote to Rubio on 1 October asking for records of the meetings Marafatsos attended, Guilfoyle's private flights and her financial disclosures. Shaheen asked whether Guilfoyle had accepted flights or hospitality from Aktor. Meeks wrote that if the reports were accurate, Guilfoyle "is unfit to represent the United States abroad and should be removed".
Damage control
Guilfoyle's exit before any inquiry reaches a finding removes her from the State Department's disciplinary system, which applies only to serving employees, and leaves the remaining routes to a criminal case in the hands of officials Trump appointed or can overrule. The department's inspector general can subpoena documents but cannot compel a former official to testify. Trump fired the State Department's inspector general, Cardell Richardson, and at least 16 others on 24 January 2025. A federal judge ruled on 24 September 2025 that the firings broke the law but declined to reinstate them.
Justice Department leaders chosen by Trump would decide any prosecution over the Deters request, the Aktor flights or payments to foreign officials. The department's Public Integrity Section, which prosecutes corruption by federal officials, was cut from about 35 lawyers to four or five in 2025, according to two former members. A 10 February 2025 executive order paused new enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars US companies and citizens from bribing foreign officials. Emil Bove, then acting deputy attorney general, ordered prosecutors in February 2025 to drop corruption charges against Eric Adams, then mayor of New York; a federal judge dismissed the case in April 2025.
Trump's pardon power covers federal offences before any charge is filed, a use Gerald Ford made for Richard Nixon in 1974 and Joe Biden for members of his family in January 2025. Trump pardoned Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor convicted of trying to sell a Senate seat, in February 2025, along with other politicians convicted of corruption.
Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress, so only Republican committee chairs can issue subpoenas. The letters from Meeks and Shaheen are requests that the State Department can decline. Democrats would gain subpoena power in any chamber they win in the midterm elections on 3 November 2026, with new majorities taking their seats in January 2027.
Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate holds the control-body report on Doicești. Decisions on that report and on Dimitriu's treason complaints against Grindeanu, Ivan and Simion rest with Romanian authorities, outside the reach of US officials.
