Kimberly Guilfoyle

Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle ( GHIL-foyl; born March 9, 1969) is an American diplomat, media personality, and former prosecutor who has served as the United States ambassador to Greece since 2025. She served as an advisor and led the fundraising division of the Trump 2020 presidential campaign.

Guilfoyle studied at University of California, Davis, and the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she earned a J.D. degree. She became a prosecuting attorney in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. She was an assistant district attorney in San Francisco from 2000 to 2004. From 2001 to 2006, she was married to Democratic politician Gavin Newsom, and was first lady of San Francisco during Newsom's first two years as mayor of that city. She was the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. from 2021 until they separated late in 2024.

Guilfoyle worked at Fox News from 2006 to 2018, and co-hosted The Five on the network. She later joined America First Policies, a pro-Trump super PAC, to campaign for Republicans in the 2018 midterm elections. On December 10, 2024, then-President-elect Trump nominated her as the U.S. ambassador to Greece and was confirmed by the Senate on September 18, 2025.

Early life and education

Guilfoyle was born in San Francisco on March 9, 1969. Her mother was Puerto Rican who had migrated from Aguadilla and her father was Irish. She was raised Catholic. She grew up in the Mission District of San Francisco and in Westlake, Daly City.

Guilfoyle's mother, Mercedes, taught special education. She died of leukemia when Guilfoyle was 11. Her father, Anthony "Tony" Guilfoyle, was born in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in 1957 at the age of 20. In 1958, while still an Irish citizen, he was drafted and spent four years in the U.S. Army. After being discharged from the army, Tony Guilfoyle took up work in the construction trades. He later became a real estate investor. Until his death in 2008, he was a close advisor to his son-in-law Gavin Newsom, who was San Francisco mayor.

Guilfoyle graduated from San Francisco's Mercy High School, and then the University of California, Davis. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1994. While in law school, she interned at the San Francisco district attorney's office. She also was a lingerie and fashion model, featured in local department stores' advertising campaigns (including Macy's) and modeling Victoria's Secret lingerie for a bridal magazine. She later studied at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. While there, Guilfoyle published research in international children's rights and European Economic Community law.

Legal career

After law school, Guilfoyle taught in a public school district and briefly worked as a prosecutor in San Francisco. She lost her job in 1996 when Terence Hallinan was elected district attorney and fired 14 of the city's prosecutors. Guilfoyle worked for four years in Los Angeles as a deputy district attorney, serving on adult and juvenile cases. She received several awards at the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, including Prosecutor of the Month.

In 2000, Guilfoyle was rehired by Hallinan in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, where she was an assistant district attorney from 2000 to 2004. During this time she obtained a conviction while co-prosecuting with James Hammer in the 2002 case People v. Noel and Knoller, a second-degree murder trial involving a dog mauling, which received international attention.

In 2003, by which time her then-husband Gavin Newsom was the front-runner in the 2003 San Francisco mayoral election, Guilfoyle publicly accused her fellow assistant District Attorney Kamala Harris (who was running in the 2003 election for district attorney) of being unwelcoming toward her. This accusation stemmed from a period years earlier, during Guilfoyle's re-hiring at the San Francisco district attorney's office. Harris denied this accusation. Guilfoyle did provide positive comments on Harris's qualifications for office; she called Harris someone who would "work very hard" if elected district attorney, as well as "very smart" and "a good speaker".

Media career

In January 2004, Guilfoyle moved to New York to host the program Both Sides on Court TV. In addition, she worked as a legal analyst on Anderson Cooper 360°. She joined Fox News in February 2006 as host of the weekend show The Lineup. This was eventually canceled. Guilfoyle remained a regular contributor for the network, and in 2011 was picked as co-host of The Five. She worked as a host on the show until 2018. In 2014, she began hosting and then co-hosting Outnumbered for nearly 50 episodes, plus a few more appearances until June 2018. Guilfoyle also appeared weekly on the recurring segment "Is It Legal?" on The O'Reilly Factor until that show was canceled in 2017, and as a weekly Thursday guest on Brian Kilmeade's Kilmeade and Friends radio show. Guilfoyle guest-hosted Hannity, On the Record, Justice with Judge Jeanine, and Fox & Friends.

In mid-2017, Guilfoyle signed a long-term contract extension with Fox. In July 2018, she abruptly left Fox News and began working for a pro–Donald Trump super PAC. HuffPost reported that, at the time of her departure, the network had been in the midst of a year-long investigation of a sexual harassment accusation against Guilfoyle. Network officials had given Guilfoyle an ultimatum: Resign by the end of July or be fired. The New Yorker subsequently corroborated reports that Guilfoyle had been forced to resign rather than leaving by choice.

After Guilfoyle left, Fox News agreed to an out-of-court settlement with an assistant who had accused Guilfoyle of sexual harassment. Terms were not disclosed. The New Yorker reported that the settlement was at least $4 million. The assistant alleged that Guilfoyle frequently displayed herself naked, showed photographs of the genitalia of men she had sex with, and required her to sleep over at Guilfoyle's apartment. The New Yorker independently verified several of the assistant's allegations.

Work in politics

Early political activities

In 1995, Guilfoyle worked on the reelection campaign of district attorney Arlo Smith. Around this time, she was also a regular fixture at political fundraisers organized by oil billionaire Gordon Getty, whose son William she dated. (The timeline of Guilfoyle's relationship with Billy Getty is not publicly known.)

First Trump administration and 2020 re-election effort

In December 2016, it was reported that Guilfoyle was being considered for the position of press secretary for President-elect Trump. Sean Spicer was considered the front-runner for the position, and was ultimately selected. On the May 12, 2017, edition of The Five, co-host Bob Beckel hinted that Guilfoyle turned the job down. In an interview with Bay Area News Group on May 15, Guilfoyle confirmed she was in contact with the White House about the position following Spicer's resignation. She said:

"I'm a patriot, and it would be an honor to serve the country. I think it'd be a fascinating job, it's a challenging job, and you need someone really determined and focused, a great communicator in there with deep knowledge to be able to handle that position."

On May 19, 2017, Guilfoyle said she was under contract with Fox, indicating she turned the White House down. One month later, she extended her contract with Fox.

In 2018, The Washington Post called Guilfoyle a "conservative cheerleader for President Trump". In 2019, Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. jointly toured school campuses, invited by venues such as the University of Florida, where they were paid $50,000 for their appearance from student activity fees, which led to complaints by anti-Trump students. At the event, two people were arrested and five were injured.

In 2020, Guilfoyle was reported to be the chair of the finance committee of the Trump Victory Committee. As of early 2020, the Trump campaign was secretly paying Guilfoyle $15,000 per month through the campaign manager's private company, Parscale Strategy. Guilfoyle served as a surrogate on the stump and took on broad advisory roles. In the Trump 2020 campaign, she managed a fund-raising division. This division paid socialite Somers Farkas to raise money. The fundraising division Guilfoyle managed was in internal turmoil amid departures of experienced staff and accusations of irresponsible spending. In November 2020, Politico reported that Guilfoyle had engaged in sexually explicit conversations during private Trump fundraisers that had made some attendees uncomfortable. Politico reported that many campaign insiders alleged that this was part of severe human resources problems that plagued the fundraising division, likely damaging the Trump campaign's ability to keep pace with the Biden campaign's fundraising.