Secretary of State Marco Rubio flatly refused to address allegations that Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle pressured a Trump donor to pay off her $100,000 American Express bill in exchange for administration access — because in Washington, selling influence is just how business gets done, and the people in charge see no reason to explain themselves to you.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle, then awaiting Senate confirmation, sent a series of desperate messages to Kentucky attorney and MAGA donor Eric Deters in July 2025. "Honey please I need you to get this done for me today," she texted on Signal, followed by a praying hands emoji and payment instructions. "It won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that's all that will show. Please." When Deters balked, Guilfoyle pressed harder: "I've been calling you for over a week straight. You could be here meeting with [then-IRS Commissioner] Billy Long." She promised if he paid, she would "be your Trump ride or die, forever and ever."
Deters, who had donated $125,000 to a pro-Trump PAC and previously paid Guilfoyle $300,000 to speak at his Freedom Fest events, declined. "She never came through on anything," he told the Journal.
Rubio, visiting Athens on Wednesday, dismissed the entire thing. "You guys somehow 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," he told reporters, offering no denial, no explanation, no commitment to look into it. Just contempt for the question. Vice President JD Vance similarly deflected, calling it a "hypothetical" and saying "the details really matter" — a convenient way to avoid addressing details already published by the Journal.
Guilfoyle's attorney, Jesse Binnall, disputed the authenticity of the messages but offered no specifics, according to the New York Post. Guilfoyle's lawyer previously claimed she was "owed a balance" for travel and speaking before her nomination; Deters said he owed her nothing.
This is the second round of allegations. In September, the Journal reported Guilfoyle had invited Greek lobbyists to sit in on official diplomatic meetings and promoted the interests of a Greek construction and energy company. Ranking Democrats on both the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees — Gregory Meeks and Jeanne Shaheen — sent letters to Rubio requesting investigations. Shaheen warned the conduct risks "undermining US diplomacy." Meeks wrote that if the reports are accurate, Guilfoyle "is unfit to represent the United States abroad and should be removed."
Guilfoyle was confirmed 51-47 on September 18 — a straight party-line vote. She had urged Deters to be discreet throughout their correspondence. "What a nightmare, you'll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing," she texted him in January 2025.
The Democrats now demanding accountability have a point about the conduct, but they were nowhere to be found when their own party's ambassadors and officials played similar games. The real story isn't partisan — it's that the entire system treats access to your government as a commodity, and the officials entrusted with oversight can't be bothered to answer a straight question about it.
Rubio still hasn't said whether he'll investigate. There's no indication he will.
