U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, in her prior role as a Fox News host, endorsed the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton for her purported role in “racketeering” and “corruption” because Clinton was supposedly “willing to sell access” through the Clinton Foundation in a “pay-for-play” scheme. Guilfoyle is now under fire for reportedly soliciting a $100,000 payoff from a donor to President Donald Trump who was seeking access to his administration in exchange for money.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that in the days before her congressional hearing to join the administration, Guilfoyle repeatedly texted Trump donor Eric Deters asking him to pay down her $100,000 American Express balance “in a way that wouldn’t leave a paper trail” in messages the paper had reviewed. At the time, the Journal reported, Deters “was seeking her help in getting the attention of the new Trump administration on some personal tax and legal issues—and had promised payments of as much as $1 million if she was successful.” The Journal further reported that “Deters didn’t ultimately make the payment” and that Guilfoyle’s lawyer “said the ambassador disputed the authenticity of the messages but declined to provide specifics.”

The Journal previously reported that Guilfoyle had “puzzled government officials across the region with her persistent promotion” of a Greek construction firm called Aktor Group as well as “her extensive efforts to involve” the firm’s top lobbyist, Christos Marafatsos, whom the paper described as “a neophyte in both diplomacy and energy” who “is frequently seen at Guilfoyle’s side, acting as her unofficial gatekeeper and joining her for meetings at her ambassadorial residence and with government officials in countries around the region.” That reporting prompted congressional Democrats to seek a probe into Guilfoyle’s conduct.

Guilfoyle is one of more than two dozen Trump administration appointees who previously worked at Fox. She spent a dozen years at the network, joining as a legal analyst in 2006 and later becoming a founding co-host of its panel show The Five. When Trump announced Guilfoyle's nomination in December 2024, he touted her role as his “close friend and ally” and her past work in media (privately, the Journal reported, he told people he had nominated her because “had to get her out of here” after Guilfoyle’s breakup with his son Donald Jr., her former fiance).

An undistinguished pro-Trump pundit during the 2016 campaign, Guilfoyle participated in the right-wing media’s deceptive effort to turn the Clinton Foundation’s work into a political liability. Guilfoyle argued on Fox that as secretary of state, Clinton had been “willing to sell access” through the Foundation and engaged in “influence peddling.”

In one notable example, Guilfoyle echoed and endorsed Trump crony Rudy Giuliani's proposal for a criminal investigation into whether Clinton’s actions with regard to the Clinton Foundation constitute “racketeering” and “corruption.”

“Well he's saying that not only as — yeah, a former mayor but as a former prosecutor who's investigated and prosecuted racketeering and RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] violations — and he's saying what we saw here, this level of corruption is so overt that it rises to the same level and would warrant a very thorough and fair investigation and potentially indictment,” she said on the August 22, 2016, edition of The Five.

“So he thinks that there is definitely a case to be made for it, but you don't see them climbing over themselves to try and even properly investigate it,” she added. “And if it were anybody else but the Clintons, BTC, they would be frying already.”