WASHINGTON — U.S. ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle could be returning to stateside much earlier than expected amid allegations of misconduct.
President Donald Trump acknowledged on Oct. 12 that he was weighing whether to fire Guilfoyle, the ex-fiancée of his son Donald Trump Jr., over potential ethics violations.
"Well, we're looking at it. Yeah, we're not happy," Trump told reporters, as he departed the White House for a campaign event.
Trump donor Eric Deters has alleged Guilfoyle pressed him to pay her $100,000 American Express bill as she prepared for her Senate confirmation hearing last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper also reported that recordings captured Guilfoyle saying Greek businessmen were paying for her travels
and "pleading for an invite to an event with Eric Trump."
The alleged incidents were reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said a lawyer for Guilfoyle disputed the authenticity of messages she reportedly sent to Deters, a former congressional candidate.
Trump's comments were the clearest sign yet that Guilfoyle's job is in jeopardy, after administration officials sidestepped questions last week, saying they would need to review the accusations.
"Obviously, I don’t love that,” Vice President JD Vance told a reporter who asked him on Oct. 8 about pay-for-play schemes without using Guilfoyle's name or getting into the specifics.
Vance said the following day that Guilfoyle, whom he said he'd known a long time, should not be tried in the court of public opinion.
"Look, these are accusations. You don't take messages that people allegedly had between one person or another, or one person's story, and say, 'Oh, because of that, Kimberly Guilfoyle is guilty.' I think that's absurd," Vance told reporters. "Let's actually see what the facts are. Let's see what the truth is. And obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences."
Guilfoyle's conduct has been under scrutiny for several weeks, with the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee pledging in early October to investigate and push for her removal if initial reports proved accurate.
The accusations picked up steam after two additional reports dropped this month, one of which came just as Secretary of State Marco Rubio was making a trip to Greece, where Guilfoyle is based.
"The questions you’re asking me, we’re not addressing those at press conferences in Greece with the foreign minister and in another country," Rubio told a reporter who asked about Guilfoyle during a news conference.
Rubio flashed anger later as a journalist asked him about the report again on the tarmac in Athens just before he departed.
"I’m not going to comment on a story that literally posted a few hours ago," Rubio said on Oct. 8. "I don’t even know if it’s true or not true. So it’s just not going to work that way, and it most certainly is not going to work that way when I’m sitting in another country."
Guilfoyle's possible firing is a dramatic reversal for the former Fox News star, who was once part of the Trump family's inner circle. At a Greek Independence Day event at the White House on March 26, Trump embraced Guilfoyle and asked her to join him at the front of the East Room.
"Kimberly Guilfoyle has been my friend for a long time. I love calling her Kimberly. That's my little pet name, right? But you are the greatest, and I heard they love you over there. I hope you come back here in 12 years or whenever the term ends," Trump said at the time. "Come on up here, Kim, stay alongside of us."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump weighs firing Kimberly Guilfoyle as US ambassador to Greece
