A Kentucky businessman who has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Trump-world causes says U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle leaned on him last summer to wire $100,000 to cover her American Express bill — and that he now believes the request came with strings attached, just days before her Senate confirmation hearing.

Eric Deters, a former Kentucky congressional and gubernatorial candidate, told ABC News and CBS News that Guilfoyle asked him to send the payment in July 2025, about a week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considered her nomination. According to screenshots of texts he provided to both networks and first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Guilfoyle wrote that it "won't show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express" and pressed him to get it done "today," attaching a PDF with payment instructions.

"Pay to Play"

Deters says he never sent the money — he told CBS he didn't have the funds at the time and invented an excuse about his wife objecting. But he says the arrangement was clear: Guilfoyle, he claims, dangled help getting attention from incoming Trump administration officials in exchange for the cash.

"IT WAS ALL QUID PRO QUO."

That's how Deters described it to ABC News, adding that Guilfoyle "was so desperate for me to send that $100,000." He told CBS separately that he has "no doubt it was pay to play." Deters says he's paid Guilfoyle roughly $300,000 in speaking and appearance fees over the years and complained in texts that he'd gotten nothing in return, including help getting booked on a podcast and pushing federal officials on an unrelated extradition case involving a fugitive doctor.

CBS reported that White House officials were told the text messages are authentic, according to people familiar with the matter, and that some Trump aides have privately expressed irritation with Guilfoyle over the episode. Guilfoyle's attorney, Jesse Binnall, disputed the messages' authenticity to the Journal but offered no specifics, suggesting any money discussed could have been reimbursement for her travel and speaking expenses. A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Athens said her career reflects "deep and abiding values" and that she "remains committed to serving the American people with integrity."

The flap has followed Guilfoyle, the former Fox News host and ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., onto the world stage. Asked about the allegations while traveling in Athens on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed off the question: "I don't even know if it's true or not true." Vice President JD Vance, asked at a separate event about a hypothetical in which an ambassador sought payment in exchange for access, said he didn't "love that," though he added he wasn't familiar with the specifics of Guilfoyle's case.

Guilfoyle was confirmed by the full Senate after a committee hearing and was sworn in as the first female U.S. ambassador to Greece in late September. Deters, for his part, says he wants her removed from the post and is threatening to seek her deposition as part of an ongoing legal dispute of his own. Neither Guilfoyle nor the State Department has issued a detailed, on-the-record rebuttal to the specific texts at the center of the story, and reporters are pressing both the embassy and the White House for a fuller response as the allegations ricochet through Washington.