U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle likes her champagne expensive—and her tabs to be someone else’s problem.
Guilfoyle’s glitzy Mediterranean lifestyle, which made news in April when she requested that a $58,000 basketball court be built at her Athens home, reportedly involves demanding comped meals and top-of-the-line wine.
According to a Daily Mail report, the 57-year-old ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. has a tight group around her to make her job easier—and then some.
“She has a close team of people that are basically running the show, smoothing the way for her, and making sure she has everything she needs,” a State Department source told the outlet.
Guilfoyle’s team has used Greek “hospitality guru” Giannis Chorozoglou as their de facto tour guide, and has asked him for handouts, like two cases of pricey champagne.
But when Guilfoyle’s team made the champagne order this spring, a member of her entourage berated Chorozoglou for only getting a discount.
“Are you serious? Just a discount? Are we paying for it? It was supposed to be free for the ambassador,” the person reportedly said.
A Greek source familiar with the matter told the Mail, “Whenever she is invited somewhere she asks for a specific Champagne that is insanely expensive because it’s the only alcohol she drinks.”
In July, Guilfoyle was seen at Psarou Beach on the Greek island of Mykonos with a drink in her hand. U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White was pictured holding grapes in front of her.
Guilfoyle’s team also reportedly complained to Chorozoglou about a nearly $1,800 bill for a May 31 dinner at the five-star Four Seasons Astir Palace along the Athens Riviera. Guilfoyle was joined by Christos Marafatsos, a 39-year-old lobbying for Aktor, a Greek infrastructure and energy group. Also at the dinner were her son, Ronan, and Ronan’s father, Eric Villency, a furniture designer, businessman, and Guilfoyle’s second husband.
An aide insisted to Chorozoglou that the meal should be on the house, and Guilfoyle would not pay. The bill was eventually sent to the U.S. embassy. An official told the Mail that Guilfoyle ultimately paid.
This week, Guilfoyle’s connection with Marafatsos came into question when The Wall Street Journal reported on his presence at her meetings with foreign officials.
Having a lobbyist in such meetings “calls into question whether the meeting is advancing American interests or advancing some sort of private interest,” said Robin Brooks, the National Security Council director for the Balkans and Central Europe under Joe Biden.
“President Trump thought he could ship her away to Greece and give her a plush title and then he could wipe his hands of it,” an administration official told the Mail. “But she is creating negative headlines all the way from Europe, and it has infiltrated American media because she is such a big Republican name. Frankly, there is no other U.S. ambassador that has received this much press in such a short period of time.”
Guilfoyle can use her “Trump card” if anyone gets in her way, and embassy staff and foreign diplomats are aware of this, according to the report.
“She is able to intimidate Athens Embassy personnel, State Department higher-ups and even Greek and regional government officials using the Trump card,” a source close to the U.S. Embassy said. “She has Trump’s phone number on her cellphone and can wield that like a weapon imperiously: ‘Don’t get in my way or I can call the President of the United States.’”
The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department and the White House for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Mail that Guilfoyle has been an “incredibly effective advocate” for Trump’s agenda “in Greece and across Europe,” adding: “President Trump and I greatly value the Ambassador’s pivotal work and leadership in the region.”
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Guilfoyle has done an “incredible job,” and said claims to the contrary are “trash.”
