IG probes gifts and favors as Trump nears decision on ambassador
An audio recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal captured U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle boasting that two Greek tycoons were paying for her luxury travel, according to people who heard the conversation and the recording itself. The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating whether Guilfoyle received gifts or favors from private businessmen, a person familiar with the matter said. Administration officials are discussing whether Guilfoyle should be removed from her post, and President Trump is expected to decide soon, aides said.
The recording was made in January during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On it, Guilfoyle asked an American businessman who was on a guest list to help her get into a dinner being held for Eric Trump and organized by Greek House Davos. “You know, I can deliver the world to you. Which you deserve,” she told him, according to the recording. “I’m going to make you a lot of f—ing money,” she said at another point in the exchange.
She expressed anger at not being on the list for the dinner. “You don’t have the f—ing U.S., you know, ambassador to Greece not come. She should be kissing my f—ing ass,” Guilfoyle said of the event’s organizer, according to the recording. She ultimately received a last-minute seat. Irene Vantaraki, chairwoman of Greek House Davos, said her team “had to manage a small crisis [that] affected a number of high-profile guests” and that “some were disappointed.” Guilfoyle was “gracious and discreet” and left the dinner early, Vantaraki said.
Guilfoyle flew to the January 2026 forum on a private jet with Alexandros Exarchou, chief executive of the Greek construction company Aktor Group, she acknowledged on the recording. She described him as “my people,” according to the recording. The Journal has reported that Guilfoyle encouraged governments from Bulgaria to Albania to do business with Exarchou and buy billions of dollars of American natural gas from his company.
She also described plans to fly later that month to Paris, on a jet with Greek shipping tycoon Nikolas Tsakos, chief executive of Tsakos Energy Navigation, to attend his wife’s fashion show, saying the two had spent part of the holiday season together in the exclusive ultraluxury Swiss resort of Gstaad. “I see Nikos every f—ing day,” she said on the recording. “I’m flying with him to Paris. I’m with him for a f—ing week.… He loves me. Honey, I spent Christmas with him. New Years. OK? Gstaad. Like, everywhere.”
When Guilfoyle checked into the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris—a favored hotel of Hollywood A-listers and African and Middle Eastern leaders—the bill fell to Tsakos, according to people familiar with the matter. She posted 20 photos of herself at the event to her two million Instagram followers, dressed in several designer gowns, including two with Tsakos. The Journal reported that Tsakos’s financing of her travel had not been previously reported.
Tsakos and his wife did not respond to requests for comment. Aktor Group declined to comment through lawyers, who have said Guilfoyle was not improperly promoting Aktor’s commercial interests. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Athens said Guilfoyle’s “career in and out of public service is guided by deep and abiding values” and that she had “faithfully followed State Department ethics and gift reporting guidelines.” “The unsubstantiated claims are simply a distraction from the great work she is doing in Greece and the broader Eastern Mediterranean,” the spokesman said.
According to the Journal, the new revelations come as top Trump administration officials deliberate over an ambassador who was once set to marry into the first family. The Journal described her as “evolving into a political liability ahead of the 2026 midterms.” Aides said administration officials are discussing whether she should be removed, with a decision expected from Trump soon. Asked about the reporting as he left the White House on Friday, Trump said: “I just heard about it. It’s too bad. I mean, I don’t know. She’s an ambassador.… She was always very nice.”
The Journal reported that the revelations have been a disruption for the White House and State Department. Guilfoyle spent several days reaching out to people in and around the administration, denying that she had sent the texts soliciting credit-card relief, and seeking their support, according to the Journal. The Journal reported Wednesday that Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to send $100,000 to her American Express account, offering in return to help get the Trump administration to look into the donor’s personal tax and legal issues. A lawyer for Guilfoyle disputed the authenticity of the messages but declined to provide specifics.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio learned about the text messages from the Journal’s request for comment as he flew to Athens, where he delivered a speech before the Acropolis on whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world. Aides were frustrated and feared the revelations would overshadow the address, according to people familiar with the discussions. Guilfoyle joined Rubio for multiple events during the visit. As Rubio departed Athens on Thursday, he declined to discuss the messages. “We don’t conduct these things in a press conference on a tarmac in a foreign country because you wrote a story,” he told reporters. Guilfoyle was on the tarmac to see him off.
Asked about the Journal’s reporting on Friday, Vice President JD Vance declined to take a stance. “These are accusations,” he said. “Let’s see what the truth is. And obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences.” Some former Trump officials expressed skepticism that Guilfoyle would face consequences. Stephanie Grisham, a former spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump, wrote on X that Guilfoyle “knows far too much about the Trump family/inner circle” and that “an angry KG stateside would not be a good thing for Trumpworld.”
In recent days, congressional Democrats have intensified their calls for Guilfoyle to face an investigation or be ousted from her role—or both. Last week, Democrats on the Senate and House foreign-affairs committees urged the State Department to review her conduct after the Journal’s investigation revealed her efforts to promote Aktor, the Greek firm whose CEO had flown her to Davos. In a letter to Guilfoyle on Friday, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for an “immediate investigation” into whether Guilfoyle violated federal bribery and public corruption laws and asked the State Department inspector general to examine whether she violated federal law, department regulations, or ethics requirements. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, in a letter to Guilfoyle on Thursday wrote that the reported conduct “raises serious public corruption and national security concerns” and requested her financial records and copies of her communications with certain government officials.