You’d be miffed too.
Here you are, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, delivering a grand and sweeping speech on democracy in Athens in front of the ancient Acropolis, the birthplace of western civilization.
Hardly had the applause subsided than the only thing Rubio was left to answer were sweeping allegations of misconduct by Kimberly Guilfoyle, the flamboyant U.S. Ambassador to Greece, sitting in the audience.
The furor over the story about Guilfoyle’s political lifestyle broke at the same time Rubio was in Greece giving his speech.
A day before Rubio left Greece for Portugal, he said that Guilfoyle was “doing great job.’
A day after he left, she was fired.
In between was his speech, which was lost in the media feeding frenzy over Guilfoyle, which shows that a good political scandal beats a good political speech every time.
In that important speech, though, Rubio, among other things, traced the development of the west from ancient Greece and Alexander the Great through Rome, Christianity and the United States, tying ancient Greek values of heroism, honor and duty to President Donald Trump’s America First agenda.
It was a well presented and thoughtful speech in which he contrasted Western values with those of the radical Islamist mullahs of Iran “whose cult of death hails child suicide bombers as national heroes.”
Unfortunately, Rubio’s speech was overshadowed by a Wall Street Journal story that alleged bad behavior on behalf of Guilfoyle, 57, the Trump appointed U.S. ambassador to Greece who was once engaged to the 48-year-old Donald Trump Jr.
The paper said that Guilfoyle, a long time Trump supporter, asked Trump donor Eric Deters, a former Kentucky congressional candidate, for $100,000 to pay off an American Express bill shortly before her Senate confirmation hearing.
Guilfoyle, once a star on the Fox Television show “The Five,” reportedly urged Deters to avoid a paper trail by directly wiring the money to American Express while offering him access to Trump administration officials. Deters apparently had an issue with the Internal Revenue Service.
“Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” Guilfoyle texted Deters, according to the paper. Deters replied, “I can’t do this without getting a divorce.”
Guilfoyle was confirmed by the Senate on September 18, 2025, on a 51 to 47 vote.
Before her breakup with Trump. Jr., and her appointment, Guilfoyle, a lawyer, one time model, television personality and Trump campaigner, had been married twice, first to California Governor Gavin Newsom and then to Eric Villency, a business executive.
In addition to the Deter email, Guilfoyle was hit with stories that the State Department’s Office of Inspector General was investigating allegations about Guilfoyle’s private travel, acceptance of gifts, her relationship with Greek business interests and creating hostile workplace at the U.S. Embassy.
Before he left Greece, and before Guilfoyle’s’ forced resignation, Rubio tangled with the press for even bringing the subject of the $100,000 email up.
The usually cool and calm Rubio seemed to explode when reporters asked him more questions about Guilfoyle, who was seeing him off, than they did about his speech.
“I don’t even know if what you’re reporting is true,” Rubio said.
“You guys somehow a walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel with me.”
Maybe not, but it was the gospel with Trump who said to Guilfoyle: “You’re fired.”
Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lcas@bostonherald.com.
