President Trump said Monday he was "looking at" firing Kimberly Guilfoyle as U.S. ambassador to Greece after an associate of Guilfoyle's alleged she asked him to wire $100,000 to pay her American Express bill in exchange for her help with the Trump administration ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing. CBS News political director Fin…
Page F118From§Eachthe evening edition — 13 October 2026
THE WIRE TRANSFER
Trump threatens to fire the ambassador over a $100,000 wire whose source he still won't name.
As it ran on the front
On October 8th, Eric Deters, a Kentucky lawyer, former congressional candidate, and donor to the Trump campaign, said on the record that Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle had asked him to pay off a $100,000 American Express bill. The exchange, by his account, ran the direction you'd least expect: the money bought him her help with the administration — access to officials — timed ahead of her own Senate confirmation hearing, not help clearing it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked to answer for that twice that same day, once recorded by The Hill and once by The Guardian. He answered neither.
Four days passed. On October 12th the number still had not moved, but the temperature did. The New York Post reported Guilfoyle was "on very thin ice." The Washington Examiner and The Hill both reported that Trump and Rubio were weighing whether to fire her. The Senate's own majority whip called the allegations "very troubling" — a chamber that had already voted to confirm her now grading its own homework after the fact.…
…(cont) That same Monday, the file picked up its first quote from the man who could end it. CBS News reported that Trump, asked directly, said he was "looking at" firing Guilfoyle and added, "we're not happy." Two outlets today repeat that quote — the New York Times and the BBC — a day after CBS carried it first.
Here is what reconciles and what does not. The sum is fixed: $100,000. The instrument is named: an American Express card. The alleged purpose is named: access to the administration, ahead of a confirmation hearing. What is missing from every column in this ledger is the one line an auditor asks for first — the source of funds. Not the donor who says he sent it. The person inside the building who was supposed to say yes or no when he did.
Trump is willing to say he's unhappy. He is willing to say he's looking at a personnel decision. He is not willing, and neither is his own secretary of state, to say who signed off on a $100,000 wire to a sitting ambassador's personal credit card. That is not a gap in the reporting, hon. That is a gap in the filing, and gaps that size, in this administration, tend to turn up in the column marked "no one available for comment."
“They don't fire her for the hundred grand, they fire her for making them say the number out loud in front of cameras. Watch the verbs — "looking at," "not happy" — that's the language of a guy stalling until the news cycle moves, not a guy running an investigation. The question was never whether she did it, it's who at State signed off on it, and that's the one sentence nobody in that building will say.”
“Look, the Ambassador has been incredibly effective for this administration, and these are unverified claims from a single donor with his own — wait, "on the record" isn't unverified, is it. The President is handling this appropriately, he's reviewing it personnel-style, through the proper — no, there is no proper channel for a credit card bill, I'm aware of that. This is clearly a distraction from the real work of diplomacy, which, fine, I'll just leave it there.”
Earlier in this story
- Rubio now weighs firing the ambassador he still won't say took the $100,000. By Ruth · the afternoon edition, 12 October 2026
- Ambassador accused of demanding $100,000 payoff gets 'very troubling' from the one Republican who'll say anything. By Ruth · the morning edition, 12 October 2026
The receipts
"We're not happy," says the president about his son's ex-fiancée following reports of improper behaviour.
President Trump made the remark in response to a question about the U.S. ambassador to Greece, who faces accusations that she asked a G.O.P. donor to pay off her credit card.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.