Photo collage: U.S. Embassy in Greece / White House / Nishkid64

The Trump administration has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to step down as U.S. ambassador to Greece, new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia announced Tuesday.

The move follows reports that Guilfoyle, who was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. for four years before her appointment to Athens, sought a $100,000 payment from a Trump donor in return for access to figures in the administration – conduct that allegedly took place before she was confirmed for the post.

Guilfoyle has not addressed the reports directly. Her lawyer told the Wall Street Journal, which first published the messages at the center of the story, that she disputes their authenticity and that she did nothing wrong. She separately denied to administration officials last week that she had sent them.

Pressure had been building on the ambassador for weeks. Since late September, the Journal has run a series of reports on her conduct both before and during her time in Athens, including allegations that she accepted lavish gifts in the job.

By Sunday, an administration official said President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “extremely pissed off” over the reported conduct and were expected to decide on a course of action this week, once the Columbus Day holiday had passed. Trump offered no defense of Guilfoyle when CNN asked him about the allegations on Friday.

Rubio, who had initially backed her – telling reporters last week that she had been a strong ambassador – later stopped commenting publicly as the allegations mounted.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said: “Kimberly Guilfoyle was not a member of my family. I guess she dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn’t. She was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Representative Robert Garcia of California, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, had already called for an investigation.

Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and California prosecutor, was named ambassador to Greece by Trump shortly after the 2024 election, in the same period reports emerged that her engagement to Trump Jr. had ended.