Kimberly Guilfoyle has declined to remove an energy lobbyist from meetings held in her role as US ambassador to Greece, the Daily Mail can exclusively report.

The 57-year-old former Fox News host, who was previously engaged to Donald Trump Jr, has dismissed concerns about a potential conflict of interest.

“I need him,” Guilfoyle has said, according to roughly half a dozen insiders who spoke to the Daily Mail.

Sources in Athens say the controversy extends beyond Christos Marafatsos, 39, whose attendance at Guilfoyle’s official meetings was first reported by the Wall Street Journal last week.

Three insiders told the Daily Mail that Guilfoyle’s team sought complimentary items from a Greek hospitality fixer, including two cases of Champagne and a dinner costing almost €1,600 ($1,800). An embassy official said Guilfoyle paid for the meal.

At least two Greek news organizations published stories based on the Journal’s report before removing them soon afterward, as the claims attracted attention in Washington.

“Her team has forged excellent relationships with all the Greek media. They will call them up, and poof, there goes the bad press. Many people are afraid of getting on their bad side,” a Greek media insider said.

The controversy has reportedly frustrated Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is due to travel to Athens within days for talks with the Greek government, according to sources.

“Rubio is annoyed but quite frankly has too much on his plate to worry about the side quests of Kimberly Guilfoyle,” a State Department source said.

President Donald Trump selected Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece in December 2024, shortly after Don Jr was photographed out with Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, who is now his wife. The Senate confirmed Guilfoyle last September.

Before her appointment, sources cautioned the woman nicknamed “Margarita Girl” to conduct herself carefully, warning that a posting among Greece’s Aegean islands and famously long summers was not an invitation to live a party lifestyle.

In July, Guilfoyle was photographed drinking Champagne and eating grapes at Nammos, the jet-set venue on Mykonos’s Psarou Beach, with Bill White, Trump’s openly gay ambassador to Belgium. She traveled to Paris for Fashion Week the following day.

That same month, Trump returned directly to the United States from the NATO summit in Turkey rather than stopping in Greece, despite Guilfoyle having promised local officials a presidential visit.

The controversy surrounding Guilfoyle escalated Thursday when senior Democrats on the Senate and House foreign affairs committees called on Rubio to investigate her conduct, pointing to the Journal’s reporting.

“If these reports are accurate, Ambassador Guilfoyle is unfit to represent the United States abroad and should be removed from her position,” Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top House Foreign Affairs Democrat, wrote in a letter to Rubio.

An embassy official said Guilfoyle “continues to follow all State Department ethical guidelines.”

Marafatsos is a registered lobbyist for Aktor Group, a major Greek infrastructure and construction company that has expanded into natural gas distribution and renewable energy.

Guilfoyle has “worked with companies across the energy sector” rather than representing a single company, her lawyer, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal.

Aktor paid Marafatsos $160,000 through June to build ties with the White House and the State and Energy departments, and Guilfoyle urged Balkan officials to do business with the company, the Journal reported. 

Lawyers for Aktor told the Journal that the company’s involvement began before it had any contact with the ambassador. 

Marafatsos has worked closely with Guilfoyle in a non-governmental capacity, bridging the gap between Athens and the Greek-American diaspora, a source familiar with their working arrangement said. He also chairs Greeks for Trump, founded in 2016. 

Guilfoyle and the White House have contested the Journal’s reporting and deny any impropriety. 

Keeping Marafatsos in the room has left her embassy firefighting on two continents. 

Staff are racing to set up urgent meetings with senior Greek officials in Athens and Washington to limit the fallout, some of them face-to-face with Guilfoyle herself, multiple sources said.

Guilfoyle insists her tight-knit inner circle, which includes her omnipresent personal stylist, Fancy James, remains vital to her ambassadorial mission, insiders said.

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‘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,’ the same State Department source added.

Giannis Chorozoglou, a Greek ‘hospitality guru,’ has acted as the team’s personal guide, three insiders close to Guilfoyle told the Daily Mail.

Guilfoyle’s team asked him this spring to order two cases of Champagne for the ambassador.

‘Are you serious? Just a discount? Are we paying for it? It was supposed to be free for the ambassador,’ a member of her team fired back when Chorozoglou secured only a discount.

‘Whenever she is invited somewhere she asks for a specific Champagne that is insanely expensive because it’s the only alcohol she drinks,’ a Greek source familiar with her outings said.

Guilfoyle dined at Matsuhisa at the Four Seasons Astir Palace in Vouliagmeni, a wealthy seaside enclave south of Athens, on May 31. She was joined by her son Ronan and his father, businessman and furniture designer Eric Villency.

One of her aides called Chorozoglou to complain when the bill came to €1,586, insisting the meal was supposed to be complimentary and the ambassador would not be paying. 

The bill was eventually sent straight to the embassy, sources familiar with the exchange said.

Soliciting gifts of that kind goes well beyond a question of taste and would breach federal law and rules designed to shield serving ambassadors from accusations of corruption, three current and former diplomats told the Daily Mail.

Under federal ethics regulations, government employees ‘shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit or accept a gift’ that is given because of their official position.

SKAI and Money Review, the two outlets that pulled their versions of the Wall Street Journal story, are both owned by shipping magnate Giannis Alafouzos.

‘In Greece, most of these stories have been censored, links have been removed and pretty much anything critical of the Ambassador is taken down,’ a source in Greek media told the Daily Mail.

Rubio’s talks in Athens next week will cover defense cooperation, migration, counterterrorism, airport narcotics controls, Middle East stability and Greek-Turkish relations.

Career diplomats are frustrated with Guilfoyle but feel powerless to rein her in, sources said. 

‘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 said.

‘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 US ambassador that has received this much press in such a short period of time.’

Embassy staff and foreign diplomats tread carefully around Guilfoyle, who makes no secret of her direct line to the Oval Office, sources said. 

‘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 US Embassy in Athens 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 Mail has contacted Chorozoglou, SKAI and Money Review for comment. 

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers insists Guilfoyle has done an ‘incredible job’ in her role and suggestions otherwise are ‘trash.’

Rubio said Guilfoyle has been an ‘incredibly effective advocate’ for the president’s agenda ‘in Greece and across Europe.’ 

‘President Trump and I greatly value the Ambassador’s pivotal work and leadership in the region,’ Rubio said in a statement. 

Marafatsos said in a statement: ‘I am grateful for the opportunity to draw on my business experience and leadership in the Greek American community.’ 

Attorneys for Lindsay Clancy and the juror who stood alone during deliberations have traded sharply worded statements as prosecutors prepare to say at a Tuesday hearing whether they will seek a retrial.

Clancy acknowledges killing her three young children in 2023, but maintains she was heavily medicated and experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time. Prosecutors have contended that the deaths resulted from deliberate, planned actions rather than a psychiatric breakdown.

The five-week trial ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether Clancy, 36, was guilty of murder or manslaughter, or whether she was not criminally responsible for the killings.

The 12-member panel—nine women and three men—deliberated for more than 37 hours. Eleven jurors reportedly reached the same conclusion, but the 12th, later identified as Michael P Desronvil, refused to join them.

Following the mistrial, Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, submitted two motions seeking dismissal of the case.

One motion invoked double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being prosecuted or punished twice for the same offense. The second sought an investigation into Desronvil, alleging that he had violated jury rules.

Edward Paltzik, who represents the holdout juror, told Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany on Monday that prosecutors and Reddington had agreed to postpone the motion concerning an investigation into Michael.

Reddington disputed that account in a statement to the Daily Mail, describing Paltzik’s claim as “pure nonsense” and accusing him of being “a publicity-seeking opportunist.”

“It has come to my attention that Ed Paltzik—the hoodie-wearing lawyer claiming to represent the obstructionist juror—has issued false and blatantly misleading statements regarding our motion to inquire,” Reddington said.

He said Paltzik’s claim that the motion had been postponed through an agreement between prosecutors and the defense was “absurd” and “pure nonsense.”

Reddington said he and prosecutors agreed, as a professional courtesy, to reschedule the motion so Paltzik would have sufficient time to review it and respond.

“The motion remains active, fully alive, and is currently pending a ruling from Judge Sullivan,” Reddington said.

He concluded that his legal team would not allow “a publicity-seeking opportunist” to portray a routine courtroom accommodation as a victory.

Paltzik escalated the dispute Monday evening in a post on X. He argued that Reddington had been able to remove Desronvil during jury selection but chose not to do so.

“Clearly, Reddington liked Michael well enough long before the mistrial,” Paltzik wrote.

He described Reddington’s criticism after the trial as “sophomoric whining” and “pure sour grapes” from an angry and exhausted attorney who believed a defense verdict was his by right.

At the motion hearing scheduled for 9am on Tuesday, Judge William Sullivan is expected to hear the two motions to dismiss the case that were filed by Reddington.

It is also expected that the district attorney’s office will announce whether it plans to retry Clancy, and if so, on what charges.

Prosecutors may be inclined to reduce the charges they are seeking against Clancy to second-degree murder or manslaughter to increase the likelihood of a conviction.

Brad Bailey, a Boston defense attorney and former prosecutor who is not involved in the case, told the Daily Mail earlier this month that prosecutors could also offer Clancy a plea deal instead of a new trial. 

‘Any time the threat of a retrial with murder one hanging over the client is re-interjected, defense lawyers will, at the very least, explore whether or not there’s any interest in a resolution,’ Bailey said. 

The district attorney’s office could also decide not to retry the case.

Bailey explained: ‘Sometimes they decide not to, because of the sense that there may be the same result each time they try it, and because of the expenditures involved in trying the case to begin with, particularly when you have expert witnesses.’

If the district attorney’s office decides not to move forward with a retrial, then Reddington’s motions to dismiss the case will likewise not move forward, as they would become redundant.  

A judge has rejected Lindsay Clancy’s request to dismiss the case and find her not guilty in the deaths of her three children.

Clancy’s legal motion claimed the evidence was insufficient on two key issues: proving the identity of the person who committed the killings and establishing criminal responsibility.

But on Thursday, Justice William F. Sullivan denied the motion, ruling that the evidence “was sufficient to have satisfied any rational trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Clancy now faces a retrial after jurors last month failed to reach a verdict on whether she was guilty of murdering or manslaughter in the deaths of Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan in January 2023.

Earlier this week, inside Plymouth County Superior Court in Massachusetts, defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that there was no evidence proving Clancy killed her children.

Reddington made the argument while asking the judge to throw out the case, insisting prosecutors had presented no evidence showing that Clancy carried out the killings.

“This entire case is based on speculation. Where is the admission? Where did she say that she did this?” he asked.

Speaking animatedly in the packed courtroom, Reddington said the former nurse had been demonized by the public, including by the president.

“She’s a demon and possessed and should be executed,” Reddington said, describing what he claimed people had been saying. “This is coming from politicians, from President Trump, all the way down.”

Reddington also attacked the investigation into the children’s deaths, repeatedly asking where the evidence was that Clancy had committed the killings.

Clancy appeared in court alongside Reddington for the first time since her high-profile murder trial ended in a mistrial.

Seated in a wheelchair at the defense table, she watched as her lawyer and prosecutors argued over whether she should face a second trial.

Reddington said Clancy had no blood on her socks after cutting herself and jumping from a bedroom window. He also argued that she had no memory of killing her children after emerging from a coma.

Instead, he said, police simply told her that she had killed her children, despite unresolved questions about the timeline of events that day.

Reddington maintained that flaws in the investigation meant the state lacked probable cause to establish that Clancy was the perpetrator.

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Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham dismissed the argument as “laughable,” noting that it was the first time the defense had raised the claim.

In addition to challenging probable cause, Reddington argued that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to prove the 36-year-old was criminally responsible for the deaths.

Firing back, Buckingham argued that a defendant who suffers from mental illness can commit crimes and still be criminally responsible. 

Judge Sullivan said he would take the matter under advisement and rule at a later date – before handing down the ruling on Thursday.

The 36-year-old labor and delivery nurse strangled the children with exercise bands in the basement after sending her husband, Patrick Clancy, out of the home to run errands.

She then tried to kill herself, cutting her wrists and neck and jumping from the second-floor bedroom window. Clancy survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down.

The mother of three did not deny killing her children but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, saying she was suffering from severe postpartum depression and psychosis at the time.

But ultimately, after 38 hours of deliberations, the 12 jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict and, on September 4, a mistrial was declared. 

It turned out that a lone holdout juror, identified as Michael Desronvil, refused to join the other 11 in finding her not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Desronvil’s role in the trial was one of several matters that took center stage on Tuesday as the defense and prosecution faced off once again inside the courtroom over a handful motions filed since the mistrial was declared.

At the start of the hearing, Judge William Sullivan tabled several of the motions for a later date and several matters that had been expected failed to come to fruition.

Arguments about the defense’s request to investigate Desronvil, a defense motion to dismiss the case on double jeopardy grounds, and a newly-filed motion from the state requesting a gag order preventing Reddington from speaking out about the case were all put on pause.

A date of November 2 was set for a follow-up hearing where those matters will be argued.

No new trial date was set – after the two sides both asked the judge to delay the matter and Reddington said he would not be available for a retrial until June. 

Judge Sullivan told the lawyers to prepare to set a date at the November 2 hearing.