U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle stepped down Tuesday after the White House requested her resignation over allegations of improper conduct during her tenure at the embassy.
In her resignation statement, Ms. Guilfoyle rejected accusations that she had abused her position in the Trump administration and vowed to defend her name.
“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,” she wrote on X.
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White House press secretary Katie Zacharia announced Tuesday that Ms. Guilfoyle had been asked to resign.
“We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well,” Ms. Zacharia told reporters during her first press briefing as press secretary.
She did not offer a timeline for replacing Ms. Guilfoyle.
President Trump, who nominated Ms. Guilfoyle to the ambassadorship last year, said Monday that he was “looking” at whether to fire her after several articles in The Wall Street Journal alleged misconduct.
“We’re not happy,” Mr. Trump told reporters.
Ms. Guilfoyle was one of the first ambassadors appointed during Mr. Trump’s second term. Before that, she was a Fox News host and fiancee of Donald Trump Jr.
The Journal reported last week that Ms. Guilfoyle had used her influence in the administration to solicit $100,000 from a prominent Trump donor to pay off her American Express card — allegedly in exchange for access to senior administration officials — ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing last summer.
The outlet also reported allegations that Ms. Guilfoyle told a Greek official that the U.S. could subvert the country’s government if it chose to and gave a private audience to lobbyists from a Greek construction company.
Other allegations, first reported in the British tabloid Daily Mail, said Ms. Guilfoyle exhibited “tyrannical” behavior while leading the embassy and threatened staff.
On Tuesday, Ms. Guilfoyle rejected the allegations and said she would defend her reputation.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who traveled to Greece last week as part of a diplomatic trip and met with Ms. Guilfoyle at the U.S. Embassy, cast doubt on the allegations and called her a “strong ambassador.”
“You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things,” Mr. Rubio told reporters on Thursday.
Late last week, NBC News, citing two people familiar with the decision, reported that the State Department’s inspector general had opened an investigation into the allegations against Ms. Guilfoyle.
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