Guilfoyle was previously engaged to the president’s son Don Jr. in 2020 before the pair ended their relationship in late 2024

NEED TO KNOW

• President Donald Trump seemingly played down his connection to Kimberly Guilfoyle at a White House briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 13
• This comes after Guilfoyle was asked to resign as U.S. ambassador to Greece after reports raised concerns about her conduct
• Trump praised Guilfoyle, who was previously engaged to his son, as a close friend and ally when announcing her ambassadorial appointment in 2024

President Donald Trump is now claiming he didn’t know Kimberly Guilfoyle well, despite her yearslong relationship and engagement to his eldest son.

Trump was asked about Guilfoyle — the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. — shortly after White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia announced that Guilfoyle had been asked to resign from her post as U.S. ambassador to Greece.

ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott remarked to the president that Guilfoyle, 57, “was almost a member of your family.”

“No, she wasn’t a member of my family,” Trump responded to Scott at a White House briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 13. “She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.”

“But she went to Greece. She was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading…,” he added.

His latest remarks mark a sharp shift in tone from just six months ago, when Trump was singing Guilfoyle’s praises at a Greek Independence Day Celebration at the White House in March. The president then called her “a friend” and “an inspiration to a lot of people,” before revealing his “little pet name” for her: “Kimberlay.”

“You are the greatest and I heard they love you over there,” he told Guilfoyle at the event. “And I hope you come back here in 12 years or whenever the term ends.”

Trump previously announced Guilfoyle’s ambassadorship nomination in December 2024 on Truth Social, writing that she has been “a close friend and ally” for years and that her “extensive experience and leadership in law, media and politics along with her sharp intellect” made her “supremely qualified” for the job.

“Kimberly is perfectly suited to foster strong bilateral relations with Greece, advancing our interests on issues ranging from defense cooperation to trade and economic innovation,” he wrote. 

Guilfoyle was asked to resign after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that she sent messages to a Trump donor asking him to cover $100,000 in her credit card expenses days before her Senate confirmation hearing.

She confirmed her resignation on Tuesday, writing on X that her time as ambassador was “coming to an end,” and adding, “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity. I have dedicated my professional life to fighting for justice, standing up for what is right, and defending the values that make America exceptional. I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”

Guilfoyle, a former legal analyst on Fox News, began dating Don Jr. in 2018.

Guilfoyle told Metropolitan Palm Beach magazine in 2022, “Don and I knew each other for years but when we went on one date years later, that was it. Sparks. In fact, we have been together from that night on, happily ever after!”

The pair got engaged on New Year’s Eve in 2020, but quietly ended their relationship in 2024.

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The president later announced Don Jr.’s engagement to socialite Bettina Anderson at the White House on Dec. 15, 2025, and the pair wed in May. Guilfoyle told The New York Times in January that she was “happy” for him, adding, “I wish him, of course, all the best.”

Don Jr. was previously married to ex-wife Vanessa Trump, 48, for 12 years before she filed for divorce in 2018. They share five children: Kai, 18; Donald III, 16; Tristan, 14; Spencer, 13; and Chloe, 11.

Guilfoyle was previously married to California Gov. Gavin Newsom from 2001 to 2005 and shares a son, Ronan, with her ex-husband Eric Villency, a designer; they split in 2009.

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