Eric Deters, the Trump donor whose allegations about a $100,000 payment led to Kimberly Guilfoyle’s resignation as ambassador to Greece, has sued her and her lawyers for defamation.
Deters filed the lawsuit in Kentucky state court, alleging that Guilfoyle and her attorneys falsely claimed the text messages he provided to The Wall Street Journal were fake, called him a “known blackmailer,” and said he owed Guilfoyle money. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial.
“The texts are not fake,” Deters said in his lawsuit. “I have never been accused of or charged with blackmail”.
The Underlying Allegations
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Guilfoyle asked Deters to wire $100,000 to American Express to pay off her personal credit card bill just days before her Senate confirmation hearing in July 2025. In the messages, Guilfoyle allegedly wrote: “Honey, please I need you to get this done for me today,” adding that “it won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express”.
Deters refused, telling the Journal it would have cost him his marriage. He has said he previously paid Guilfoyle $300,000 over several years for speaking engagements but described their relationship as a “quid pro quo”.
Guilfoyle’s lawyers denied the allegations, claiming Deters owed her $150,000 for unpaid speaking fees and that the texts were inauthentic. “Asking a client to pay for work already done is not corruption,” attorneys David Schwartz and Jesse Binnall said in a statement. “It is the opposite of corruption”.
The Resignation
The White House asked Guilfoyle to resign on Tuesday, with new press secretary Katie Zacharia saying she “has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well”. Trump told reporters the administration “didn’t like what we were reading”.
Guilfoyle announced her resignation and denied the allegations. “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity,” she posted on X.
The Broader Threats
Deters has threatened to release more damaging information, telling CNN he has a “16-minute phone recording” that is “the most explosive, most devastating information about Kimberly Guilfoyle to date”. He also claimed the recording “might just bring down the entire Trump administration” and “may end the JD Vance/Marco Rubio ticket”.
Deters included in his lawsuit an October 1 email to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles asking Trump to do him a “political favor” — pressuring Warren Buffett to have a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary pay $40 million to patients of a doctor wanted on health care fraud charges. Deters said he would drop the lawsuit if Trump extradited the doctor from Pakistan. He denied the request was extortion but called it “hardball”.
Guilfoyle’s lawyers called the lawsuit “clearly frivolous on its face”.
The Bottom Line
Eric Deters has sued Kimberly Guilfoyle and her lawyers for defamation over their denials of his allegations that she asked him for $100,000. Guilfoyle resigned as ambassador to Greece after the White House asked her to step down. Deters is also threatening to release a recording he says could damage the administration. Guilfoyle’s lawyers say the lawsuit is frivolous.
My Opinion
Kimberly Guilfoyle was the US ambassador to Greece. She allegedly texted a Trump donor asking him to wire $100,000 to American Express to pay off her personal credit card bill days before her Senate confirmation hearing. When he refused and the story broke, she resigned and now she is being sued for calling the texts fake.
The White House says it “didn’t like what we were reading.” That is not a denial. That is an admission that the only reason she was asked to resign was that the story became a political problem. Not because the allegations were false. Not because the conduct was unacceptable. Because it looked bad.
Guilfoyle’s lawyers say asking a client to pay for work already done is “not corruption.” That is a strange defense for an ambassador who was about to be confirmed by the Senate. Public servants are not supposed to have personal financial relationships with donors. They are not supposed to ask for money to pay off credit cards. They are not supposed to be in a position where a donor can refuse and create a scandal.
Deters is threatening to release a recording that he says could “bring down the entire Trump administration.” That may be bluster. But it says something that a donor with a grudge can hold that kind of leverage over the people running the government.
