Like it or not, San Francisco native Kimberly Guilfoyle remains a character whose career trajectory, deep as it is in Trump World, we're still obligated to cover, even if she's long since left her SF life behind. And now, a Republican donor has come forward with allegations about Guilfoyle soliciting what seems to be a personal kickback or bribe.
Onetime San Francisco First Lady Kimberly Guilfoyle, who turned tail after divorcing Gavin Newsom two decades ago and went all in on Fox News and the Republican side of things, is joining the ranks of Trump loyalists who are catching the ire of fellow Republicans as Trump's grip on power continues to weaken.
The Wall Street Journal reports that last summer, as Guilfoyle was preparing for her confirmation hearing to become ambassador to Greece — her consolation prize after being dumped by Donald Trump Jr. — she had a text exchange with former Kentucky congressional candidate and pro-Trump AM radio host Eric Deters — a well-off businessman who had offered payments up to $1 million for help with some personal tax and legal issues from the Trump administration, and to help get him on Tucker Carlson's show to plead his own case.
Deters ended up souring on Guilfoyle and her empty promises, as he tells the Journal, after she failed to get anything done for him. Though the text exchanges show her telling him that she had reached out to incoming IRS Commissioner (now Ambassador to Iceland) Billy Long on his behalf, and bragging that she had a direct line to every cabinet secretary, and all get right back to her.
While Guilfoyle texts with some annoyance at Deters about him being too explicit, in writing, about financial arrangement, she herself seems to brazenly ask him over Signal to wire $100,000 directly to American Express to cover her bill there.
"It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express," a Signal message shown to the Journal, seemingly from Guilfoyle, says, with an added, "Please." In another, she allegedly writes, "Honey please I need you to get this done for me today."
Deters ended up refusing the $100K request, saying that he couldn't fulfill it without "getting a divorce" from his wife. But he now confides in the Journal that he never came through because she never did. "She never came through on anything," he tells the Journal.
He also shared a message in which Guilfoyle said, if he came up with the $100K, "I will be your Trump ride or die, forever and ever."
The Journal notes that Deters, who worked as a lawyer in addition to owning a regional chain of pizzerias, has had his share of legal issues, including being suspended twice by the Kentucky Bar Association and being "banned from entering a courthouse in Ohio’s Hamilton County after threatening on social media to burn it down."
But now he joins a group of Republicans, once fiercely loyal to Trump, who are questioning that loyalty now that favors are policies they sought haven't come to fruition.
And this revelation about the Amex bill comes two weeks after a different Wall Street Journal investigation found Guilfoyle being perhaps too chummy with a Greek energy company lobbyist in her work as an ambassador, taking meetings in the Balkans. That has reportedly led to Democrats on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees calling on the State Department last week to formally review her conduct on the job.
A US Embassy official gave a statement defending Guilfoyle to the Journal, saying, "Guilfoyle’s career in and out of public service is guided by deep and abiding values. She was fully vetted by the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations committee and confirmed by the US Senate. The Ambassador remains committed to representing the American people with dedication and integrity."
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