Kimberly Guilfoyle’s associate says when she asked him for $100,000 it was a ‘quid pro quo’

Businessman Eric Deters said he “had no doubt it was pay to play,” claiming that Kimberly Guilfoyle, now U.S. ambassador to Greece and ex-fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., asked him to wire $100,000 to pay her American Express bill in exchange for his help with the Trump administration before Guilfoyle’s Senate confirmation hearing.

In an interview with CBS News, Deters said Guilfoyle should “lose his ambassadorship” over his alleged behavior, after texts between them dating back to last July were published in the Wall Street Journal.

“It was a quid pro quo,” Deters told CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang on Thursday.

Deters said he never gave her the money.

“Unfortunately for Kimberly Guilfoyle, at that time I didn’t have $100,000 to give to Kimberly Guilfoyle or I would have been stupid enough to do so.”

Deters said he made up an “excuse” so his wife wouldn’t accept him.

White House officials were informed that the text messages between Guilfoyle and Deters were authentic, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. Some Trump aides expressed displeasure with Guilfoyle’s actions, they said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported this week that Guilfoyle allegedly contacted Deters days before her congressional hearing to become U.S. ambassador, saying she needed $100,000 to pay off her American Express credit debt in a way that would not be publicly visible.

“It won’t show up anywhere if you transfer money to American Express, that’s all it will show,” Guilfoyle wrote to Deters on July 3, according to screenshots of texts provided to CBS News. “I’ve been officially announced baby please I need you to do this for me today,” she wrote, punctuating the post with a praying hands emoji. His confirmation hearing took place on July 9.

She sent him “American Express Instructions” in a PDF document.

CBS News reviewed the texts, which were provided by Deters as part of a 292-page filing that included dozens of pages of grievances against Trump’s global figures, communications with Guilfoyle and others, photos of Deters with Guilfoyle, President Trump, Eric Trump and Trump Jr., and a lengthy excerpt from a book Deters wrote.

CBS News contacted spokespersons for the State Department and the White House, as well as Guilfoyle.

Deters, a longtime Trump supporter, is a retired Kentucky attorney and businessman who was sanctioned by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2021 for engaging in an unauthorized practice of law. He also ran unsuccessfully for governor of Kentucky and for Representative Thomas Massie’s seat in the United States House of Representatives.

For years, Deters has attempted to garner media attention and political support for the extradition of orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Abubakar Durrani. The government believes Durrani fled the country while awaiting trial on health care fraud charges. He was accused of billing millions of dollars to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies for unnecessary and potentially harmful spinal surgeries for patients. Today, Deters said he felt offended that he never received support from influential Trump figures around the world to have Durrani extradited to the United States.

“I emailed Susie Wiles, Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, and I said, ‘You have until 5 p.m. Monday to help me with the Durrani victims,'” he said. “They didn’t respond. And I told them, ‘If you don’t do it, I’m going to go to the media and try to get their help because you’re not helping me.’ So I gave them one last chance, and they ignored me.”

In text messages reviewed by CBS News, Deters, who said he also represents hundreds of Durrani’s former patients, may have believed he could benefit from Durrani’s extradition to the United States. He wrote to Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle’s podcast producer, Drew Lynch, and suggested: “If anyone in Don Jr. or in your world is interested in listening to a pitch about how much money could be made for a little money in this Durrani case, let me know.”

Deters, who no longer practices law, could have stood to gain financially if he was able to sue Durrani.

Just before taking office in 2025 and shortly after Guilfoyle and Trump Jr. broke off their engagement, Mr. Trump announcement he planned to appoint Guilfoyle as United States ambassador to Greece. But Deters said his influence has waned since his relationship with Trump Jr. ended.

“There was no doubt she would do anything for me,” Deters said. “The problem was she was outside of the Trump world.”

Deters claimed Guilfoyle knew there was something wrong with demanding payment.

“She knew there was something wrong because she kept getting angry with me,” Deters said. “I mean, I’m naive, I write things down and send them to her. She gets angry. She wants me to use Signal. I didn’t know what Signal was.”

In late June 2025, she texted: “Eric, I really wish you would stop putting these things on paper. It’s really dangerous and it doesn’t help you and it doesn’t help you or me when you could just call me on Signal.” Deters had just sent him a note complaining that she hadn’t fulfilled what he had asked of her, including booking him on Tucker Carlson’s podcast.

“I generously offered you $1 million when Durrani settles if you put me on Tucker,” he wrote. He also complained that he prepared a “concise summary” for then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, but “I didn’t receive anything concrete.”

Deters also requested to meet with then-IRS Commissioner Billy Long about a tax matter, and he wanted Guilfoyle to send lyrics to a song he had written to Kid Rock.

Deters said in the note: “I’m not naive or stupid. I need results. No results. I don’t need to pay.”

He pushed her via text shortly after: “So far I bet you haven’t received any emails AND phone calls to Wells (Tucker Carlson’s producer), Bondi, Long.”

Guilfoyle said her accusation was “completely false” and sent as evidence the PDF of a letter in which she congratulated Long on his confirmation and asked him to give his attention to Deters’ tax matter.

Deters claimed to have paid Guilfoyle and members of the Trump family in the past.

“I paid him a total of $300,000,” he said. “Don Jr. $200,000 for two appearances. Eric Trump for $100,000, $125,000 for President Trump’s PAC, $100,000 to go to the Kentucky Derby with Trump. So I paid a lot of money to Trump World,” he said, adding that he never owed money to Guilfoyle or anyone around Mr. Trump.

According to documents he shared with CBS News, he claims to have paid Guilfoyle a total of $300,000 for appearance fees. And he said his promise of additional payments to Guilfoyle and Lynch was for their services as consultants.

The Trump administration’s response so far

In Greece, where Guilfoyle hosted his plane earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio chastised reporters for asking questions about it.

“You walk around thinking that because a source told you something and you reported it, that’s the gospel,” he said. “That’s not the gospel. That’s not the gospel to me. That’s not how we do things.”

Rubio also declined to comment because the article was “literally published only a few hours ago,” telling reporters that “we don’t conduct these things at a press conference, on a tarmac, in a foreign country.” As Rubio left Greece, Guilfoyle was present, but on the sidelines.

CBS News asked Vice President JD Vance on Thursday whether a government official should ask someone to pay off their debt.

Jennifer Jacobs, CBS News’ senior White House reporter, asked: “Do you have any reaction to a U.S. government official, in this case a U.S. ambassador, asking someone to repay a debt in exchange for access to other government officials?”

“With that assumption, obviously I don’t like it, but I, you know, I don’t know exactly who you’re talking about. I don’t know all the details,” Vance responded.

“Kimberly Guilfoyle and I have absolutely no personal relationship, nada,” he told CBS News.

But Deters is now determined to share his story. He said he wanted to draw attention to Dr Durrani’s victims. And he wants Guilfoyle to step down as US ambassador.

“I’m a tough man,” Deters said. “I’ll be able to take Kimberly Guilfoyle’s statement.”