Vice President JD Vance on Friday addressed reports that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle asked one of President Trump’s donors for debt relief in exchange for political access, cautioning against a rush to judgment while saying “people have to suffer consequences” if wrongdoing occurred.
“Look, these are allegations, and what I always say is: we don’t try people in the court of public opinion. We try people in a court of law,” Vance told reporters during a trip to his home state of Ohio.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday that Guilfoyle allegedly asked Eric Deters to wire $100,000 to American Express without a paper trail. In exchange, she allegedly promised to help him reach senior administration officials.
The request reportedly came just ahead of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the Greece ambassadorship.
According to messages shared with the Journal and later obtained by NewsNation, Deters turned her down, saying it would cost him his marriage.
Vance pushed back on the idea of drawing conclusions based on the messages alone.
“You don’t take messages that people allegedly had between one person or another, or one person’s story, and say, ‘Oh, because of that, Kimberly Guilfoyle is, is guilty.’ I think that’s absurd,” Vance said Friday. “Let’s actually see what the facts are. Let’s see what the truth is.”
Still, the vice president made clear there would be accountability if the allegations prove true.
“And obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences for it,” he added.
The scandal has brought added scrutiny to advisers in Trump’s orbit. When asked whether the Guilfoyle allegations reflect “how the administration works,” Vance said “certainly not.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is on a diplomatic trip to Greece, also brushed off reporters’ questions about whether he still has confidence in Guilfoyle and whether her conduct raised any concerns.
“Like, our job is not to respond every time someone decides to give the media something without any advance warning, without having any chance to look at it and see what’s in there,” Rubio said.
Both Vance and Rubio declined to pass judgment on the ambassador, with Vance stressing that allegations should be weighed on facts and evidence rather than media reports.
Vance was in Ohio on Friday to cast his midterm vote and headline a rally in support of Republicans in the Buckeye State, including incumbent Sen. Jon Husted and GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.
The vice president’s remarks offered a measured defense of due process as questions continue to swirl around the allegations against Guilfoyle. While he rejected the notion that the reported messages alone prove guilt, he left the door open to consequences should the facts show wrongdoing.
For now, the administration’s top officials appear content to wait for more information before weighing in further on the ambassador’s alleged conduct.
[READ MORE: Leaked Audio Captures Paxton Claiming Cornyn Wants Him to Lose Texas Senate Race]
