
Kimberly Guilfoyle was preparing for her congressional hearing to become U.S. ambassador to Greece when she approached a Trump donor with an urgent request: She needed $100,000 she said she owed American Express in a way that wouldn't leave a paper trail.
“It won’t show up anywhere if you wire the money to American Express,” she wrote on Signal, according to messages reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Please.”
For months, Guilfoyle had been talking to Eric Deters, a former congressional candidate in Kentucky, who was seeking her help in bringing some personal tax and legal issues to the attention of the new Trump administration — and had promised her payments of up to $1 million if she was successful.
As the ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., Guilfoyle offered to use her influence, according to Deters and the messages reviewed by the Journal. She relayed to Deters messages she had sent to the new head of the Internal Revenue Service and updated him on her efforts to lobby the Justice Department on his behalf.
But her confirmation was approaching and she said she needed to pay off the card balance before then.
“Honey, please, I want you to do this for me today,” she wrote to Deters, adding a praying hands emoji and a PDF with instructions for paying the bill from American Express. “You can send it here,” she wrote on July 3, 2025, just days before her confirmation hearing on July 9.
Deters ultimately didn't make the payment, telling Guilfoyle it would cost him the marriage. But the exchanges, part of a group of hundreds of messages, emails and letters reviewed by the Journal, raise new questions about the activities of one of America's most high-profile ambassadors.
Last week, Guilfoyle was sharply criticized by Democrats on the Senate and House foreign affairs committees, who called on the State Department to review her conduct. They cited a Journal investigation into her promotion of a Greek company whose lobbyist traveled with her to meetings with governments throughout the Balkans.
Jesse Binnall, a lawyer for Guilfoyle, said the ambassador disputed the authenticity of the messages but declined to provide specific details. He said she had been paid to speak at events before her appointment and “was owed a significant amount of money for travel and support of these patriotic events.” Deters said he did not owe Guilfoyle any money.
A US Embassy official said: “Guilfoyle’s career in and out of public service is guided by deep and enduring values. She was fully vetted by the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee and confirmed by the US Senate. The Ambassador remains committed to representing the American people with dedication and integrity.”