President Donald Trump answered he’s “looking at” firing Kimberly Guilfoyle when asked about the embattled U.S. ambassador to Greece on Monday.

Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a campaign rally that his administration is “looking at it” and added that it’s “not happy” over reports alleging that she used her official position and links to the Trump family to get money from a donor. 

A Trump donor told ABC News last week that Guilfoyle offered access to top Trump officials in exchange for cash.

Eric Deters, a former lawyer, conservative media personality and Trump donor, alleged that Guilfoyle asked him to pay her $100,000 credit card bill in July 2025 — days before her Senate confirmation hearing.

“It was all quid pro quo,” Deters claimed about the request from Guilfoyle, who is the former wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and ex-fiance of Donald Trump Jr.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Deters’ accusations.

Deters provided messages to ABC News he says he exchanged with Guilfoyle on the subject. In one message from that period, Deters alleges Guilfoyle wrote, “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” which Deters alleged was in reference to the desired credit card payment.

ABC News has reached out to Guilfoyle, her attorney and the U.S. Embassy in Greece for comment and have not heard back.

In a statement released late Sunday, Guilfoyle’s lawyers claimed that the money she was seeking was for appearances and speaking engagements that predate her nomination that have not been paid, according to The Associated Press.

Deters denies he owed Guilfoyle any money. He said he ended up not making the payment because he didn’t have the money.

Deters is considered a controversial character in Kentucky politics. He ran for Kentucky governor in 2023 and to represent Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District in the House in 2024; he lost both races in the primaries.

A former lawyer, Deters had his law license suspended in 2012 for actions in multiple cases including comments he made about a judge and improper solicitation of a possible client. In refusing to reinstate Deters’ law license in 2021, the Kentucky Supreme Court said he had a “notorious propensity” for filing “malicious or frivolous lawsuits,” according to court documents.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. embassy in Greece said Guilfoyle’s “career in and out of public service is guided by deep and abiding values” and “the Ambassador remains committed to representing the American people with dedication and integrity.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he wouldn’t answer questions about Guilfoyle’s alleged conduct last week while departing Athens, Greece.

“I don’t even know if it’s true or not true,” Rubio said. “So it’s just not going to work that way, and it will certainly not going to work that way when I’m sitting in another country.”

But White House and State Department leadership have held discussions on how to address the allegations against Guilfoyle, including possibly dismissing her, according to two sources familiar with the matter. 

Both sources cautioned, however, that no final decision had been made; one source said the the president would have final say over any action. 

Several officials close to Rubio have expressed their frustration with Guilfoyle, whose reported misconduct loomed over Rubio’s high-profile visit to Athens last week. Guilfoyle was present throughout the secretary’s program in Greece, even appearing at some events that she had not been invited by the State Department to attend, one U.S. official said. 

The official said that the State Department’s inspector general is examining claims of possible misconduct by Guilfoyle, but it is unclear if a formal probe has been launched and the department has declined to publicly comment on any investigation.

ABC News’ Jay O’Brien contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump doubled down Monday on his decision to allow Russian diesel imports amid growing backlash, calling it the “right choice” and arguing that Europe has previously purchased energy products from Russia as well.

Trump said in a Monday morning social media post that the “European Union paid Russia 250 Billion Dollars for Energy” and added, “I made the right choice for the American People — ALWAYS, AMERICA FIRST!”

Trump did not specify the period covered by $250 billion figure. Estimates from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air tracking how much the EU has spent importing fossil fuels from Russia since the start of war with Ukraine roughly align with the figure Trump mentioned.

Trump’s comments come after a small group of bipartisan senators came out against the Trump administration’s plan to lift Russian oil sanctions and import a new supply amid spiking prices in the U.S. The senators, in a statement on Sunday, urged the administration to reverse its decision due to the ongoing war with Ukraine and ban on Russian energy imports.

“The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course,” the senators wrote in the statement.

Trump announced on Friday that he made a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to immediately import 300,000 tons of its diesel fuel, with a promise that millions more are coming.

The statement was signed by Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, John Curtis and Lisa Murkowski as well as Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden.

The senators also argued the move violates a 2022 law banning Russian energy imports and opens the door to allowing Russia to potentially benefit financially on its war against Ukraine.

“President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law. The Administration has also failed to consult with Congress or submit any explanation to justify its decision as required by statute,” the senators wrote in the statement.

In April 2022, Congress passed the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, banning imports of Russian energy products. While the law does allow the president to lift the ban under certain conditions, it requires a justification to Congress before doing so, which the senators argue did not happen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sharply criticized the decision, too, saying in an interview with ABC News over the weekend that the deal amounts to an “obvious weakness.”

“It plays into Russia’s hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” he said. “We count on America’s fair support for our defense of life, for our defense of people in Ukraine — and on the United States having a correspondingly strong conversation with Russia. A strong one, not a weak one.”

Trump’s decision comes weeks after he signed the bipartisan Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which authorizes tariffs on countries that continue to purchase Russian oil. Now, some senators, such as Tillis, say Trump’s recent action runs counter to the efforts in the legislation.

“I completely reject it,” Tillis said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday. “If President Trump wants to end the strain of energy supplies, number one, get things right in Iran, and number two, recognize that it was Vladimir Putin, not Zelenskyy, that started this war. And it’s Vladimir Putin who owns the responsibility for energy prices to the extent that they come from that part of the world.”

Tillis said the agreement to purchase Russian diesel is “essentially, I think, tarnishing Lindsey Graham’s efforts to try and get those sanctions bill through.”

However, other Republicans are continuing to stand by Trump, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who is a vocal supporter of Ukraine and previously voted to establish sanctions on Russia.

Emmer told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jon Karl on Sunday that the deal was “another example of our president thinking out of the box” to address the American public’s concerns about high oil and gas prices by importing fuel to the U.S. ahead of the midterm elections.

“He’s listening to the American people, Jon. The American people are hurting because of this world market when it comes to diesel and fuel in general,” Emmer said.

Emmer also hailed the deal as another tactic in Trump’s attempt to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

“I think this is just another step of trying to get that resolved,” he said.

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After President Donald Trump demanded that Ukraine stop striking Russian oil refineries, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy defended the attacks in an exclusive interview with ABC News, saying his country is responding to repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“I said it to President Trump … to his team and to his people several times: we want peace, we are ready for [a] ceasefire, we are ready to begin from any kind of steps of de-escalation,” Zelenskyy told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “And if the Russians want us not [to] attack their diesel, their refineries and etc., we are asking President Trump, give them signal not attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine.”

He went on, “Don’t attack us. Don’t kill our children. We will stop attack[ing] your diesel. And I think it’s [a] fair, fair deal.”

After Zelenskyy’s interview on ABC News aired, Trump said on social media that Ukraine and Russia had both agreed to an energy ceasefire.

“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” his post said.

Zelenskyy and his office were not informed about Trump’s statement of an energy ceasefire with Russia ahead of time and learned about it from social media, a senior source in Ukraine’s presidential office told ABC News.

The source said Ukraine has no information about the alleged agreement.

On Saturday, Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy to reporters, claiming the Ukrainian president “chooses not to” end the war with Russia, which began when Russia invaded the sovereign country in February of 2022.

Amid a global energy crisis, Trump took issue with Ukraine’s repeated strikes on Russian oil refineries, asserting that those strikes are exacerbating the price of diesel.

“We said you could do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries, because that’s a world problem that’s caused. And [Zelenskyy] wants to make problems for the world,” Trump said. “He can do whatever he wants. But you can’t do that because we have a world problem. And the problem is caused by the lack of refineries for diesel fuel. So what does he do? He goes and hits refineries.”

A senior Ukrainian source told ABC News that Ukraine expects the Trump administration to stop sharing U.S. intelligence that tracks Russian missile launches in retaliation over Kyiv’s refusal to end strikes on Russia’s oil industry.

Trump and Zelenskyy have had a tumultuous relationship. In 2025, a meeting in the Oval Office with reporters devolved into a shouting match before the cameras, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance rebuking the Ukrainian president for his handling of the war and even falsely blaming Zelenskyy for beginning the conflict.

The latest spat comes after Trump announced the U.S. had made a deal with Russia to “immediately” import 300,000 tons of its diesel fuel, with a promise that millions more are coming.

Zelenskyy said this deal amounts to an “obvious weakness.”

“It plays into Russia’s hands – allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” he said. “We count on America’s fair support for our defense of life, for our defense of people in Ukraine – and on the United States having a correspondingly strong conversation with Russia. A strong one, not a weak one.”

Less than 24 hours later, Trump called for Zelenskyy to be replaced.

“You know what I suggest? I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal. Because he could have made many deals. And for some reason, he never does,” Trump said on the White House South Lawn. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.”

He later told reporters, “I think he should have an election.”

Responding to those comments, Zelenskyy told Karl, “With all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader.”

Zelenskyy also offered a solution that he said was shared with the Trump administration: a commitment to hold elections if Russian President Vladimir Putin abides by a 60-day ceasefire.

“I know that Putin wanted very much to change the president in Ukraine, I understand it. And if President Trump really wants to have some changes in — during elections, I also shared it with his team: please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections. Of course, we will be ready for any choice of our people.”

Karl asked Zelenskyy why he thinks Trump and Elon Musk, whose Starlink internet is essential for Ukraine, are blaming him for the war’s continuation. Musk said Saturday on X that Zelenskyy has “gone too far.”

“Because these people can’t find a key how to stop Putin,” Zelenskyy said. “Because it’s more simple to speak about the prices and connect it with Ukraine when everybody in the world understands … prices are rising … because of the war in Middle East, of the blocking of Hormuz, because of these reasons. Everybody understands it.”

Asked how long Ukraine can continue to defend itself as the war approaches five years, Zelenskyy said the war has to end.

“I hope that we will save this unity, Europe and the United States,” he said. “We will defend ourselves because otherwise, we will lose our life and homes, our freedom, independence, Ukraine. Yeah, we can’t lose it. And the truth is on our side.”

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In an extraordinary ramping-up of his ongoing efforts to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, President Donald Trump has ordered a committee to investigate mortgage fraud allegations against her, culminating in a closed-door, in-person hearing at the White House next month.

The move, laid out in a memo signed by the president and announced on Friday, creates a three-person “committee of inquiry” to hear the charges against Cook and allow her an opportunity to respond at the Nov. 5 hearing.

“Governor Cook shall appear at the hearing and be examined by the Committee, its representatives, and her legal counsel, if any,” Trump’s memo states.

No president prior to Trump had ever attempted to remove a Federal Reserve governor in the 112-year history of the central bank. The law allows for a governor’s removal “for cause,” but that term is not defined in the statute.

Trump’s memo directs the panel to provide him with “written findings of fact and conclusions of law,” along with a recommendation of “whether there is cause to remove Governor Cook.”

The committee will be composed of top Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas and Keith Sonderling, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics.

Trump’s memo sets the terms of the panel’s review and allows Cook to “present argument, written evidence, and written witness statements regarding the evidence and allegations.”

The announcement of the hearing comes more than three months after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s initial attempt to fire Cook, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for a divided court that a final decision on Cook’s dismissal could only be made after she “has had the opportunity to respond to the charges made against her.”

Cook sued Trump to block his ill-fated attempt to fire her last year over the mortgage fraud allegations, insisting she has committed no wrongdoing. Her attorneys claim Trump’s attempt to oust her was based on her refusal to lower rates.

Lawyers for Cook said in a statement that they have “grave doubts” that the hearing will prove to be legitimate and legal.

“But if it is anything close to objective, the conclusion will be that Governor Cook did not commit mortgage fraud, leaving no cause to remove her from the Federal Reserve Board,” Cook’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Norm Eisen, said in their statement.

Cook’s lawyers says they’re evaluating whether the process laid out by Trump’s order “has a possibility of being a genuine one and not simply a box checking exercise.”

“Governor Cook welcomes the opportunity to present the facts so she can clear her name and demonstrate there is no legal basis to fire her,” the attorneys said.

Trump’s order says the hearing will be closed to the public but transcribed.

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The leader of the “764” network, which seeks to exploit minors online, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to sexually exploit minors.

For nearly four years, Prasan Nepal, 21, also known by the online moniker “Trippy,” led the network, which operated as “a nihilistic violent extremist network” and “engaged in a wide range of criminal conduct across the United States and abroad — including coordinated efforts to exploit minors, extort vulnerable victims, and inflict psychological harm as part of an organized ideology promoting chaos and societal destabilization,” the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said in a news release.

Nepal used encrypted apps to exploit minors through “rules,” which were needed for the child to join the so-called network, and leaders would force minors “to engage in self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder,” according to the news release.

ABC News reported in May that the FBI was conducting 250 investigations across the country tied to 764 and similar networks. In the six months since, the FBI has opened at least 100 more investigations, it said.

Nepal and his co-conspirators used child sexual abuse material to trade with other members of the group, and Nepal took advantage of at least eight minors as young as 13, U.S. Attorney Jeannie Pirro said.

“This case exposes a world where cruelty is currency, violence is entertainment, and children are treated as targets in a game of domination and control,” Pirro said. “What Nepal and his co‑conspirators built was not just a criminal operation, it was a deliberate campaign to corrupt the vulnerable and dismantle the guardrails of civilized society. Today’s plea is a victory for every child they sought to harm, and a warning to anyone who believes they can hide behind an encrypted screen: we will find you, and we will stop you.” 

Nepal faces between 15 and 30 years in prison and is expected to be sentenced in May 2027.

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Bernadette Greene-Placentia, a Democratic candidate for Congress who said she was raped while fixing a campaign sign in August, told ABC News on Thursday that she was motivated to speak up because of the arguments she was making on the campaign trail. 

“I was talking to some seniors about fighting for reinstating and funding the [Veterans Administration] and fixing Social Security, actually addressing the issues” amid federal government cuts or healthcare changes that impacted them, Greene-Placentia told ABC News Live anchor Kyra Phillips.

“It just crossed my mind at that point — like, wow, I’m kind of being a hypocrite because I’m saying I’m going to fight for Arizonans. I’m going to fight for these folks, but I’m not fighting for women who’ve been victims of sexual assault, and that’s just not how I was raised,” she said. “So afterwards, I told my husband and my team, I was like, this is really going to suck, but I have to speak up.”

Greene-Placentia, a former truck driver who is running in the state’s 8th District to try to unseat Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh, told Phoenix New Times, a local news outlet, in a story published Wednesday that she was attacked around 2 a.m. as she was walking toward a campaign sign in a parking lot north of Phoenix. She said she had been subdued and then woke up to find that she was being raped by an unknown assailant.

Greene-Placentia told the news outlet she reported the assault to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed to ABC News that a report was filed on Aug. 31 and that there is an ongoing investigation, but said the office could not comment further on the investigation.

She told ABC News on Thursday that she thinks it was a “crime of opportunity” and that she was not necessarily targeted, but she mentioned that her face is on campaign signs and “I’m pretty sure they knew who I was. Whether it was for political reasons or whatever, I mean, it was an attack on a woman, and no woman should be targeted, regardless of whether it’s for political reasons or just because they’re predators.” 

It hadn’t initially worried her to go out so late to fix campaign signs. 

“I mean, I have about 4 million miles across the country, and, you know, I’ve learned how to take care of myself … it’s just easier to do it [fix signs] at night. And usually I would go out with my husband or a staffer or a volunteer. But if I saw one that was just hanging by the rebar or somethin. … I never heard [the attacker] coming,” she said.

“And it’s frustrating to me because I like to think I have pretty good situational awareness, but obviously when someone deliberately sneaking up on you, it’s hard to defend yourself.”

Greene-Placentia said she does not remember coming home and has little memory of the next day, although said there is video of her landlord in the driveway.

“She saw me standing out there, and I guess I was just literally, like, staring off into space or something. And she’s like, Bernadette, Bernadette, are you Ok? Are you Ok? And I just looked, you know, horrible.”

She said she did not say anything to her campaign staff at first, and took a few days before she told her husband.

Asked what she wants voters to know about her in addition to her taking her story to Capitol Hill, Green-Placentia told ABC News she wants voters, including survivors of sexual assault, to know she was going to “fight” for them.

“I want people to know that I’m going to stand up. I’m going to fight for you. I’m going to fight for everybody because — I got into politics, I gave up a career I loved, because I felt like there weren’t people like me, like the average American,” she said. 

“Our voices were not being represented, and that’s from the working class. That’s from women that have been victims of sexual assault. That’s our seniors, our veterans, our teachers, and they need to know that they have somebody that lives the same life they do, that has shared experiences, and will take that to D.C. and represent them fairly, transparently.”

She also said she understands where women who don’t speak up about being assaulted are coming from, even though she used to be someone who was more judgmental of people who shared their stories. 

She brought up the 2018 hearings where professor Christine Blasey Ford accused then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Kavanaugh emphatically denied the allegations and was eventually confirmed to the court.

“I am a little ashamed to admit that I was one of those people. You know, like during the Kavanaugh hearings, for example, I was like, ‘Why did she wait so long? If he was out doing this to her, he’s going to do it to somebody else.’ But let me tell you, that is so hard to acknowledge to yourself that somebody took your power away from you, that they stripped you of your bodily autonomy, and you know overpowered you with physical strength, and you don’t want to admit that.”

She added, “I was a truck driver. I was tough. I was in a male-dominated industry as an owner-operator and built up a small fleet. You know, how could I let this happen to me? I didn’t want anybody to know. I just wanted to move on, and I can certainly understand why women don’t want to tell that their story or what happened. But I also realized that as long as I don’t say anything, then they maintain what — they took that from me, and I wanted to take it back. And speaking out and speaking up for other women — that is me taking it back.”

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