Bulwark Takes - BOMBSHELL: Leaked Kimberly Guilfoyle Texts Reveal Brazen Corruption

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Ready to be seen? Check that appointment off your to-do list with Zocdoc ✅ : https://zocdoc.com/bulwarktakes #sponsoredSam Stein, Marc Polymeropoulos, and Michael Weiss are going live to take on the bombshell Wall Street Journal report that reveals Kimberly Guilfoyle’s extraordinary private messages with a Trump donor, including a $100,000 request to pay her Amex bill and repeated warnings to stop creating a paper trail.Read the Wall Street Journal's reporting: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/guilfoyle-amex-donor-100-000-0e02cdc3?st=8Rg5Hy&reflink=article_copyURL_share

U.S. voters abroad. Have you got your ballot yet? All states are now sending ballots to overseas voters. So if you want to vote this year, you should request your ballot right away. Go to votefromabroad.org and click request my ballot, asked to receive it by email. Questions? Ask our support team directly. Don't miss this chance to shape the future. Don't delay. Vote fromabroad.org. All right. Hey, everybody. It's me, Sam Stein. Managing at the Borg. And I'm joined by the reporter. and the spy Mark Palmeropolis, Michael Weiss. We're doing an emergency pod here because there's a story out from the journal that is genuinely the most comical, but also most brazen and spectacular form of corruption.

I think I've ever seen out of a State Department official, at least recently. I'm sure there's honors and probably you guys know the history more than it. We're talking about Kimberly Gailfoyle, who is our ambassador. ambassador to Greece, who has been exposed for basically trying to shake down a friend slash donor for tons and tons of financial support, promising a variety of favors and ways to get in good with both conservative media luminaries and Trump officials. And then all of the signal chats and all the texts that she sent to this dude, he just handed over apparently to the journal. and it reads like a soap opera, Michael.

I mean, the last, we were just discussing this offline, the last graphs of this thing, if you put it in a screenplay about just cheap, chintz, maga corruption, and just read it with no edits, no notes, 10 out of 10, right? I would be riveted. I mean, should we just read like some of the last bits here? Or do we need to get into that? I'm going to read the first bit and then I'm going to go to the last bit.

Because the lead is this. The lead is just, it blows you away. Kimberly, I'm going to try to do it, not laughing. Kimberly Guilfoy was preparing for her congressional hearing to become U.S. ambassador to Greece when she reached out to a Trump donor with an urgent request. She needed $100,000 that she said she owed American Express in a way that wouldn't leave a paper trail. Quote, it won't show up anywhere if you are money to American Express.

She wrote on Signal. People should know Signal is the secretive way to communicate. according to messages reviewed by the journal. Please. Okay. For months, Guilfoy had been chatting with Eric Debtors or is it Dieters? I don't actually know. Former congressional candidate in Kentucky who was seeking her help in getting attention

of the new Trump administration on some personal tags and legal issues and had promised payments of as much as $1 million if she were successful. So that is the setup. We'll get to the latter part with all the end goes because we're actually going to rank all these stuff. But Mark. We're all laughing at how grotesque it is, but you made very valid points that this is actually quite serious. So an ambassador who is the president's representative, who every morning gets a readbook. In the readbook is all of the clandestine reporting from the CIA is the intercepts from the national security agency.

The ambassador will have a top secret clearance cleared to very high levels. And so this is a very serious position. if someone is in debt of $100,000, it is disqualifying. Let's just be very clear. So how she even got there passed a background check, a background investigation, is pretty alarming. And so I think there's got to be some look at what in the world Congress did, but also it's worth to explain why it's disqualifying.

Because at the end of the day, any foreign intelligence service is going to look for individuals to recruit, what better juicy target than an ambassador. And when you go over what what are the motivations in which people spy anyone from any country, you know, we use this acronym MICE and it's money, ideology, coercion, or ego. Well, money, which is kind of the old classic of everything, if you're $100,000 in debt, you are vulnerable, period. And so in reading this story, it's also, it appears that she actually did not get the $100,000 from him, but did she get it from someone else?

So look, any background investigator from the Department of State, from FBI, CIA, any from DOD, this would be a disquality. If someone's $100,000 in debt, you're not going out. And so it is dangerous to the security, the national security of the United States. I laughed at this too. Of course, this is also a story that Michael and I have been following. We did back on the 28th of September, we did a pod on this. We are very well sourced into the kind of the U.S. Greek ecosystem of hell right now on this issue.

who's now, you know, our phones are exploding on this. But I'm not particularly surprised that this broke. The details of it, though, in terms of her being in debt, to be honest, I did not know about. And that's why that is very concerning. Well, the reason you didn't know about it is that because on her financial disclosure that she put forth before being confirmed, this is according to the journal, she reported liabilities, including a boat loan valued at $100,000 to $250,000. And a mortgage value between 1 million and 5 million. Shelf's reported assets, including a med spot and a new vodka company.

We'll get to that in a little bit. Each worth between $1 million to $5 million and reported earning nearly $800,000 in podcast income. Wait, what? We got to re-coachate our company. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you guys. You guys, you already signed the contract. You signed the contract. And that's our show, folks.

We're going to. But can I just? You know, it's not $100,000 in debt. It's $100,000 owed to her fucking Amex. I mean, how many Etsy orders or buccal fat removal surgeries do you need to put on one goddamn credit card? $100,000 on one Amex. Like, I'd be getting calls from Amex. Like, come on.

Right. Seriously. Obviously questions. She's not, she has assets here. I mean, unless she's just lying in her financial disclosure. She's got to ask her. Right. She could be lying.

Well, so the other thing that struck me in this, she and Don Jr., apparently, they bought a house for $9 million. She listed a few years later for $30 million. So, like, my mom is a real estate broker from Queens, no less. That doesn't happen. That's not, you know, that's not an easy flip right there. And so what happened with Don Jr. Like, what kind of, what kind of refurb did they do or rent out? I don't know.

Does she know that they list the selling price prior to the, I mean, like, you can. going. Exactly. That seems like an odd month. I'd be like, wait a minute. I'm not paying like, and then he buys her out for $7 million. So she takes a loss. They both, I guess, take a loss on the house. So there's something she's deeply in debt. She came up with this company, American

Dream. She's like a champagne cocktail thing. And she said, you know, this crazy draw vodka company. Yeah. And it was, oh, we're going to raise 30 million. And then she had to shutter the whole thing just a few years later. So everything had failed. But one point in this, if, for example, this individual, Dieter, whatever his name is,

had come forth to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when she's going through a confirmation process and says that, you know, that he was asked to pay $100,000 for a credit card debt, she doesn't get confirmed. And everything else that we're going to talk about today, and there's a lot more, there's a lot of things in there that are important too. But she just simply does not get confirmed. And so this does go to the kind of the bigger picture on, you know, the Trump administration, and this kind of litany of fools they have in senior positions, there's been no congressional

oversight, period. It just doesn't happen. And that's something that I think, you know, the counterintelligence world, you know, if you're a junior FBI. I want to talk. I do want to about that too. I do think it's important just to step back before we go further into this story to talk about Guelfoyle. Because what you guys were talking about on the prior pod actually is important context here. So she's embroiled in other diplomatic rows and scandals because she's apparently gallivanting around telling minority parties who are trying to help minority parties who are trying to help oil deals for the Trump family and then threatening to like take down governments including the Greek government. And Rubio, our secretary of state, is out in Greece today, likely because he's trying to clean up

the mess she made. But that's my suspicion, right? Like he goes to Greece. He's giving a big speech for the Cropolis. But like he probably has to clean up the mess that she made and is out there to try to figure it out. So Michael, that was just like the 30,000 foot summary of it, but like what is going on in that neck of the wood? I mean, you'd kind of have to ask Marco Rubio, you know, so I would imagine he's none too pleased by all of this because it casts a poll on the state department.

He's probably being told, go out there, you know, make kissy face with the Greeks and just reassure everybody that that she's our woman in Athens. But we knew on the last pod that we did that there was more reporting coming, right? I'm a journalist. Mark talks to journalists all the time. I knew the New York Times was working on something. Obviously, the journal was working on this. There is no way that they did not reach out to Guilfoyle weeks in advance asking for comment on this. And there is either one of two possibilities, right? Either she withheld the full scope of the scandal to the Secretary of State today and let him go and stand in front of the Acropolis and give his, you know, sort of Periclean speech of Western civilization. Or she told him and he was just

like, eh, I just mission first, I got a job to do while I'm here. Either way. No way. No way. It's terrible. It's the first. It's got to be the first, right? He's not going to go there while this breaks. Right. I mean, this is humiliation. And this is somebody who, I mean, let's be honest, the State Department is not without its pariahs and scandals. I mean, they've brought in, you know, Groyper's and Maga crazies, including the former, I think, Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs had tweeted in years past that Marco Rubio was gay and attended sex foam parties and somehow this guy got hired. He also said, you know, by the way, it'd be great if the Russians infiltrated every institution in American government because it would run more competently.

Makes you think also about counterintelligence creatures that were separate. So here's Rubio. with like, oh, Christ, now I got to deal with, you know, the boss's son's ex, who shouldn't have gotten this job to begin with. And, you know, what am I in for here? And it turns out a lot, you know, 100 grand on Amex. And also Paola, right? Like, she was, she was offering his Dieter guy to connect him with the IRS chief because he has a tax problem. He's being audited for 2020 returns about interest that he made or whatever. And he's basically, saying, I've given you all this money. I think 300 grand, he cites, and

you've done nothing for me, right? And then I guess the grand reveal was, and now I'm going to give my your text. I've been trying to call you all week. Boom, she goes. I've got the IRS guy. She had, Billy Long response. Yeah. Billy Long response, finally. So, Mark, your phone's been blowing up.

I got with what you can reveal what is the actual blast radius here. So the pay for play continues. that it has been occurring as she has been ambassador. No. Yes.

And there's more reporting coming on that. It's brazen. Even to the point where friends of mine kind of, again, in this weird ecosystem of Greek lobbyists and my Greek friends and former, you know, U.S. officials, there's other things about her behavior. I mean, she's had this, you know, obviously this well-known nightlife. in Athens, but she's been kind of going to this, and this is now out now. Baltazar is a famous club right near the U.S. Embassy, the Busters residence. So she kind of spends a lot of time there rather intoxicated. She has been kind of berating and not too kind to some U.S. Embassy employees who have

actually asked her, where is the money for your renovations coming from? there's a lot of the amount of corruption here is so stunning in scope that it that is filtered out and one it was one Greek kind of lobbyist who told me as he saw what we were what our last podcast he said I know everything you're talking about and so that means it's going to come out and so you know we always joke about the Kalshi odds that Kalshi's giving this these odds of her survival she's not going to survive because this story now there's blood in the water there's shark circling and it's going to get worse and worse to the point where you're talking criminal behavior. I, you know, these are already the allegations are out there.

And so I think that, and kind of the last point on this too is the Rubio visit, which was kind of this Greek U.S. security forum, they signed some deals. Like this was kind of the last event to occur in the U.S. Greek relationship until a rumored trip by J.D. Vance to Athens. That's coming up. And so... No, come on. Yes. I wonder if they're going to try... Athens, Georgia? Athens, Ohio? Which one? Athens, Greece. Oh, my God. Okay. And so, you know, there's just, there's a lot going on here.

But I think that, you know, people are now all over this story and it's gotten to be too much of an embarrassment. And the other point, too, is that... What are the Greek saying? What is it like... So there's, there's, the Greek politics are interesting because the Greek government right now, loves the state of U.S. Greece relations. They want this to go away. They know she's corrupt. They know she drinks too much and parties too much and passes out at places.

But the U.S. Greek relationship is very strong. And that's actually been built over successive administrations. So they don't want to really hear about this. The Greek opposition, of course, has jumped all over this from the left. And the Greek press, which are now notoriously, you know, cutthroat are all over this too. there was always the notion of getting past this visit, what's going to happen, and the midterms. And the rumors that I hear in circles is that she's going to be out after the midterms because of this issue. It's going to get, because what happens, they have subpoena power.

Yeah. And they'll haul her to the hill and say, we're not getting a single cent until you come in. Yes. So that's where I think we are right now. But there's blood in the water. There's more coming. And by the way, this matters. I mean, corruption matters.

And you're taking it, the Greeks I talk to are upset because they say the status of U.S. Greek relations is so good. This taints it. There's this stink on this now. Get rid of this because the relationship is outstanding. And they praise the Trump administration for that, just like they did the previous, the Biden administration. So I think in order for the relationship to kind of succeed, she's got to go away. U.S. voters abroad. Have you got your ballot yet? All states are now sending ballots to overseas voters. So if you want to vote this year, you should request your ballot right away. Go to vote fromabroad.org and click request my ballot. Ask to receive it by email.

Questions? Ask our support team directly. Don't miss this chance to shape the future. Don't delay. Vote from abroad.org. Let's, so Marco was there today. We have audio of Rubio being asked about, this is before the story broke. Okay.

So he was asked about Gilfoyle's text. Here's how he addressed it. Let's play that idea. Increasing congressional scrutiny of Ambassador Gil Foyle's tenure here, I'm wondering, Mr. Secretary, if you've personally reviewed some of those allegations and are confident that all is in compliance with State Department ethics. This is not the forum where we're going to address that as simple as that. Suffice it to say our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here. The questions you're asking me, we're not addressing those at press conferences in Greece with a foreign minister and in another country. Absurd. Absurd. We can't, we possibly can't address the ambassador's conduct at a State Department function.

Why would we do that? No. I mean, you know, did you just expect anything other than that, though? I didn't expect anything like that. But it does, it frankly suggests that he knew what was coming. Oh, and good on, by the way, good on Olivia Gaz is from CBS. You know, she asked a really tough question that no other reporter there would ask. Because the problem is people are worried about Trump's reaction.

But why? Because he's mercurial. It's his son's ex. Because he can run to the Turks. I mean, this has to do with the Greek paranoia about Turkey. So if Trump gets mad at Greece, he'll run to Erdogan, his buddy. I mean, that's why it was in the story, because she was using the Mar-a-Lago sort of interranium between term one and term two.

She was supposed to be raising money for Trump, but she was trying to raise money for her own, you know, busted, make America great. again, which got her in trouble with Trump. Which got her, yes. And then also the other rumor was some of the partying proclivities that she got up to with Don Jr. Trump did not look very kindly on. Remember, Trump is not a guy who likes alcohol consumption or consumption of any other thing, right? Because his brother died a drunk. And he's a famous teetler to told her himself, right? So, you know, I think it's a combination of she was out for herself, not for me. She wasn't, she didn't do that loyalty. She didn't,

pass the loyalty oath that he demands. And she's just a hot mess, you know, and her son, or his son dropped her, right? So it's like they sent her to Greece and said, this is kind of your exile. And yeah, she's made a real go of it. But here's the other thing that I think people have to sort of appreciate. Corruption is now across the board, throughout this administration at all levels with multiple countries. You've got the Gulf Arab states, you've got the Israelis, you've got the Russians, you know, you got Greece. When there is a Democratic House, and there are these hearings going on, and they're using the power of subpoena to basically turn inside out all of these officials, it's not just the Americans who are going to get caught, you know, with their hand in the

cookie jar. It's the foreign government officials, too. And this will affect bilateral relations with these governments. So, you know, they might think, oh, we've got it real sweet now because we have this, you know, easily corruptible and, you know, easily manipulated, you know, buffoon as our ambassador. But what's going to happen when it's a Democratic administration? Is it going to be forgive and forget? Are we going to paper over and cover up on behalf of our allies? Or are we going to hold them to account depending on the enormity of the corruption and how much they have a bet.

Yeah, it raises the question, although I don't suspect this was his motivation. I think Deeters' motivation was that he didn't get anything for his money, right? but it does raise the possibility that he knows shit's going to hit the fan and that he might want to get ahead of it like that he's like you know I don't want to have I want to be the guy who's like spilling the beans not like taking them on the face

we should get to some of the anecdotes here because they're so great first of all there's just a continuous you know there is a little I will give her some credit I suppose there's a lot of self-awareness in her text that this is bad behavior that she shouldn't be doing, right?

Like, she's continuously talking about she doesn't want her ambassadorship to be ruined if this she gets discovered. She writes him, Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things. It's really dangerous and not helpful to you or meanwhile. You could simply just call me on signal. So, like, she understands that this is not particularly great behavior. When something else happens, she says, what a nightmare. You'll literally cost me my ambassadorship.

Stop writing. So she was, you know, she knew she was doing bad things, right? But she wanted to make sure that they just never saw the light of day. So that was kind of funny. The Tucker stuff really tickled me a little bit. The background here is that this dude Dieter's wants to, why did he want to get on? Oh, Tucker, here it is. He hoped to draw attention to his cause.

Okay. I figure what the cause was. Gilfoil sure Dieters, she was working to get him in front of Carlson. Quote, we should hear something by the end of the week, she wrote in December 2024. Text messages reviewed by the journal show Gilfoyle did reach out to people in Carlson's orbit about setting up an interview with him for Deidors. It didn't go far.

Carlson, who apparently talked to the journal, said he never heard of Deeters and doesn't keep up with Gilfoyle, who doesn't have a role influencing which guests he selects. His quote is priceless. A million dollars for a podcast appearance. Isn't she the ambassador to Greece? This is completely nuts, Michael. But the best part is, I mean, so Tucker Carlson, 226, the guy Dieter wanted to go on air to demand that the Justice Department extradite a doctor, Abu Bakar Atik Durrani, who fled to Pakistan after doing unnecessary surgeries on children. I got to be honest with you, I think Tucker would be on this doctor's side.

He would do it for free. He wouldn't need a million dollars. He'd be like, oh, he went to Pakistan. He's experimenting on kids. Yeah, yeah, let's put him on air and explain why this is like part of the, you know, the woke one. Why is the government? Yeah, yeah, clumping down on the experimental surgeries. Pakistan is a great ally.

What do you? This is ridiculous. Yeah. But his reaction to this, he's just completely like, he's like a million dollars. You can almost hear him with that high peach, you know, maniacal laugh. He's like, isn't she a ambassador to the Greece? This is crazy. He's probably thinking, why am I not getting a million dollars?

Yeah, I'm missing out here. The vodka company. This one was also pretty good. I got to pull this one up because I was tickled at how poorly this business venture went. All right, here we go. In 2022, a Guilfoil launched which she termed an upscale vodka and champagne brand called American Dream, organizing a dinner from Marlaco guests that participants realized halfway through was an investment pitch. In March 2024, American Dream sought to raise $2 million from investors.

That does not strike me as that much, honestly. according to the pitch deck viewed by the journal it projected reaching 75 million in revenue within three years. Guilford later dissolved the company. Didn't go well for Kim Guilfell. You know that scene in Goodfellas where Karen Hill, you know, Henry Hill walks in,

he's like, how much do you need? And she's like, this much. That's what this would like. Kimmelinkley Guilfell is going right, but he's like, this much I need. I need 100 grand for my Amex. I need $30 million for my vodka company. Like, how much do you have to spare?

I'm broke, I need the money. She literally at one point says, I got to get shit done and I need money before her confirmation is in battle. Yeah, she couldn't go out. She couldn't actually... She couldn't go to Greece because she had to make some money

before she left. Again, a little bit of a counterintelligence flag. Like, oh, my God. The best part, too, is she says cash... This is the quote. This is the quote. Hold on. This is the quote.

That might have been an honor. That might have been an honor correct. I'll give her credit for that. This is the exact quote that Michael referenced. It's really good. Again, like I said, there's so many gentlemen. in this. Last March

when Dieter's inquired about when she would move to Greece, Gilfalo told them to stop asking. Quote, I have a lot of shit to get done before then, and I need to make money. There's one of the quotes there when she says, I will be your Trump ride or die. I mean, that's my favorite one. I mean,

come on. Trump ride. Right, hold on, I got. Trump rider guy. That encapsulates everything. Dieter said Gilfell, told him if he came up with the Amex money, quote, I will be your Trump, ride or die, forever and ever. But he said, quote, she never came through on anything.

So they wrote a bicycle. I mean, but the ride or die, I mean, that, you know, it's a, it's a great phrase that, you know, we've all used. But it's a perfect example of pay for play. I mean, she's literally saying it's wide open. And, you know, I do wonder at some point, the administration, someone's going to have to address this. You know, is Fox News going to cover it?

I mean, you know, what, but. Well, that's a complication there because she's a former Foxhows. She's still worth there. And so, I mean, are they going to say the usual of, well, it's so out in the open, it's so brazen that, eh? I mean, to your point, this is all about shuttling. I guess what I, the thing that I sort of, the undercurrent that kind of disturb me a little bit or a lot, I guess, is how money obsessed these people are. I mean, Gilfow obviously was in a lot of, apparently it spent way too much money. But there's other little chestnuts.

in this piece about just their grotesque love of money in the Trump orbit. So, for instance, Dieter said in his dealings with Gilfell began in 2020, when he launched an event called Freedom Fest in Kentucky in response to COVID-19 medical mandates, he paid three, he paid her $300,000 over the coming years to speak there. He said, adding that he also paid $200,000 in speaking fees to Donald Trump Jr. And 100 to Eric Trump. First of all, I didn't realize, but why Eric Trump reading this must be like, Jesus Christ, like, why my brother?

What did I get? What did I get? What the fuck? He also gave $125,000 to a political action committee supporting the president. But like, that's just silly money exchanging hands. And the president's kids have their beaks in so many puddles at this point. And all these people do. And it's just like, when is it?

I guess money is never enough. I mean, that was my annual salary for the government. I mean, that's one speech. I mean, yeah. One speech. And they're like, yeah, I'm sure. They're doing it all over the place. These people are obsessed with money.

It's just huge motivation. But if you look at, by the way, if you want to be kind of, you know, really act cool in this. You know, she's not called ambassador, Cole for you. Call it KG. That's what we call it. KG. Yeah, KG. But if you look at KG and her behavior and it's all about appearance.

It's about her hair. It's about the glamour. It's gotten so bad that one of the amazing controversies, again, when she goes and sees all the Greek Orthodox church officials, she wears a low-cut dress, which drives the Greek church. crazy and there's, you know, there's an uproar over that. But it's all about her flash and how she's, you know, her makeup and where she's partying and what club she goes to. And so, you know, the money obsession, that's the Mara Lago crowd. I mean, that, that, with Sam, the whole point is, is anyone surprised at this? When she was nominated there, all of us in this, and again, the weird

world who followed Greek politics and the U.S. ambassador of Greece were like, this is insane. So it's all come back now. And the only hope was that she would be close to her. I'm not surprised by it. But it is sort of like, again, these people, like, they don't need the money, Don and Eric. They know that it could cause problems and they know that it's, I mean, I think they know it's morally dubious and unethical, a lot of what they do. And yet they do it anyway. And what is, what's another $100,000 to Eric Trump? He's made billions in crypto, right?

Like how much, at some point, you think it's like, maybe they don't need to do this, but they're not capable of turning down money. or making more money. So, yeah. I guess I'm sorry. I think it's also the rush they get knowing that their power and their access just cash is checks, right? Yeah.

I mean, people want to be around them. People want to get close to the IRS director. They want to get close to ministers and government, both here and elsewhere. And they're just like, you know, to quote another line from Goodfellas, fuck you pay me. Like, that's their mentality. That's their outlook. I mean, Donald Trump went from being, you know, a multi-millionaire to now being a billionaire. And that's happened recently.

We got to take a quick break because we don't get this type of Eric Dieter's money. We got to take a quick break to play an ad. On the flip side, we're going to talk about what comes next for Gilfoy, the Calciades. And we're going to rank our favorite anecdote from the story. Stick around. Things that are incredibly easy to put off and making a doctor's appointment is pretty much near the top of that list. You tell the stuff you do it tomorrow, and then tomorrow you remember that, yeah, you have to figure out who takes your insurance, you got call an office, maybe start playing phone tag, and then suddenly you decide, you know what, that doctor's appointment, it could wait another week. This episode is sponsored by Zock Doc, which makes that whole process a lot easier.

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Reminds me, I got to get my doctor appointment at Zoctok.com. Thank you. All right. So what comes next? You know, what happens? Does she leave? I know we said it's going to wait until after the midterm. So I think we're all in agreement that she can't stay. But how does she go? And is there more? Yeah, because there's more coming. And so, so let me just, let me just clarify one thing. The embassy knew about this story. We know that the embassy knew that the journal was poking around. They tried. to get the story killed. Yeah. They also know more stories are coming and that they're still digging. There is more that has not come out.

And so, you know, I don't think this is something in which there can be damage control or any kind of, you know, come to the rescue of her. So it's just, and so I guess the big question, Sam and Michael is, who makes it, does Marco Rubio make this decision or is actually Donald Trump make it? Oh, I don't think Marco. Can Marco make this decision? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he could, I mean, he could.

No, I know. I know in theory. Oh, yeah. No. Of course not. And so, so, you know, Rubio's got to come back and they're going to have to find some kind of soft landing for her. But there's no shortage of embarrassment. If you keep her, these stories are going to keep coming out.

There will be subpoenas if the Democrats win. And so, but if she goes, they can kind of move on to, you know, having the, there's a deputy chief of mission. There's a number two there who can actually run the embassy. There probably won't be another ambassador to get out there because it's too hard to get someone confirmed. But I think that at the end of the day, her staying there just doesn't make any sense politically. It's not good for the relationship. And as Michael noted, it's going to be embarrassing for Donald Trump

because more of this stuff is going to come out. The pay for play, that's the story people are running, and apparently it's active, it's ongoing. Well, you know who else is going to be embarrassing for, Don Jr.'s new wife, who's going to see everything litigated about her now husband and his ex-fiancee. and what they got up to, you know, dragged through the mud in the press and congressional hearings.

I mean, this is going to be drawn out. So, you know, does Guilfoyle resign before she's pushed out? And is that kind of considered to be the best thing for everybody? But yeah, I mean, Rubio's got to check in with Trump, with the kid, possibly the whole family. I mean, this is because this was nearly a member of the family, right? So she kind of has that status. But yeah, I don't think she's going to be in that. Well, I guess obviously the distinction here between the other scandals that have risen is that there's literal text messages, right? Like, I thought, I thought the, one of the more interesting elements of the story was how limp the response was from the embassy and from Guilfos people because they're absolutely caught dead to rights.

They know. Yeah. They can't even say it's fake news. Like, there's, I mean, it's like, that's it. So. And the embassy also, my understanding is in a bit of turmoil. because of this. And so, you know, this is, this is not a, you know, Rubio actually said the embassy's doing great. It's not because of her. And this is, can you imagine the embassy cafeteria tomorrow

morning? So everyone is going to, would have been trying to celebrate. You know, what we do when someone leave, when a VIP leaves, you have a wheels up party. It's a great party. So Secretary of State leaves. The whole embassy has a massive party at the Marine House. It's a wild night. Right now, they're not doing that necessarily, or maybe they are and drinking heavily because of this story, which every, you know, every, Sam, what an ambassador does every morning, they have a country team meeting. That's when the ambassador can show up for work on time. And that's a question if she can do that. But the country team meeting, you have every section chief sits next to the ambassador. There's actually a seating chart. Can you imagine everyone sitting, like, there's this going to be this giant 80 billion pound elephant in the room.

And she's like trying to celebrate Rubio's trip. And everyone knows, holy shit, there's been these massive press revelations. Embassies can't function with this. And so that's the thing. as well that the embassy is a mess and it's going to cause more turmoil. Yeah. Just so people know, we mentioned what, you know, the coverage on Fox News would be, considering she used to work that I'm told by producer Matt that Fox's not mentioned it yet. Well, wait, I don't think it's going to happen for a while. Any day in that. Wait, Murdoch owns both outlets.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. The journal is interesting. So, I mean, they didn't pull any punches. and, you know, remember, Trump tried to sue the Wall Street Journal for the whole Epstein letters. Also, it's, you know, if you're going to ask somebody for a hundred grand and say, hey, this is illegal and it's going to kank my ambassadorship, you've got goddamn auto-delete on your signal because it's clear. He went through his phone when he got pissed off.

He's like, screenshot, screenshot, screenshot. Absolutely. She could have done this. She could have taken care of this herself. Michael, as a journalist, as a journalist, for both you guys, like that guy coming to you, you realize, oh, I got a good story here. And he's like, I have actually copies of the signal text. And so, I mean, that is, it's, that's like a, that is the holy grill of stories.

Like, you're like, okay, wait, you heard about this and you have actual notes and you've corresponded with her. It just, it's, yeah. By the way, if you're out there, Eric, Dieter's and you have more that you want to share, you feel free to put work is a great spot for you to hear anyone else who's been you know in contact with Kimberly go for and they want to share stuff feel free to join he can he can just add one of us to the signal chat

yeah like best up you know like Jeff Goldberg that that's true this is this this competes now with the second with the like the biggest signal related fuckups that the administration has had I think I'll still take the first one as the dumbest because that an accidental ad is really stupendous All right, let's, other thing before we get to rankings, Calciads, we reference this as well. Show me, see if you can guess when the story broke.

Oh, it's when the line goes vertical. There's a weird plateauing there around 20% and then just kept going. I think people were sort of midway through the article and they got to the vodka part. They're like, oh, no, she can't survive that. So they kept betting on it. So she is currently at 39.6% she. chance. I honestly, I think I would, I think that you can still get a good deal on that. I'm not advocating betting. All right. All right. Let's close the shop with this. I have my favorites

of the anecdotes. I'm going to give you my top three. There's one that didn't come up. And it's hard to sort of describe, but it had me tickled because it really gets to the dynamic of what was happening here. So this guy, Eric, is. Gilfoy is asking him for all these payments. And Gilfoyle needs him, it needs to produce some sort of predicate for him paying her consulting fees, right? Like she needs him to say, yeah, Kimberly Gilfoy has been consulting. So Gilfoy, instead of just drafting him a letter saying, hey, you owe me $50,000 in back payments for consulting services, she asks Eric Dieter's to write the letter that then she would send to Eric Dieters for the services, treating him like some

fucking paralegal. This guy who was like spent so much money already. It's worried that it's going to ruin his marriage is also forced to draft a letter to cover it all up by Kimball. So that was one of mine. I really love the Tucker quote. I have to be honest. I thought that was great.

But I really, I thought the Vaca thing was just so funny. This stupid fucking Vaca venture that she's trying to pitch at Mar-Laga that goes belly up very quickly. So those are my three, and I'm going to start with my paralegal one, because I just, I found it really hilarious. Mark, what are yours? I like the million dollar, you know, the payment for Tucker. That was pretty good.

Yeah. Of course, the text, you know, you're going to cost me my embarrassment, my ambassador, stop writing. I mean, so it's probably true. It has cost to her administration. She was right. She was right. But the last one, I mean, you know, we need a T-shirt, Michael, for the show, Trump, ride or die.

Come on. I want the shirt that says On the back of the VNN shirt On the back I should put Trump right to die Yeah Yeah no I want Either a shirt or a crocheted pillow that says I have a lot of shit to get done before that

And I need to make money That's just like a perfect That's an evergreen kind of thing It's the best quote That should be in my like auto reply on On Gmail You know It's like

Sorry I'm not going to read this I'm not going to read this I'm sorry that happened or I'm very happy for you. I have to make money. I mean, I bug you a lot all day, Michael. So that's a way to get ready. You do.

You do. That'll be the auto reply for you. I got to make money. Like, Mark, shut the fuck up. I need to make money. And then, and then boom. She's silent forever.

And then boom. And apparently she's been trying to call him, or she texts him this. And she's like, I placed two calls to the phone, sent him instructions, how to wire the money. And then he goes, you needing $100K.

urgently isn't going to work. I can't do this without getting a divorce. That's good. So he has money to burn, but not that kind of money to burn. I was curious about that. Can we noodle on that for a little bit? So this guy has spent much, a lot of money on her already, like beyond $100,000.

Why was that going to be the one that causes the divorce? It was kind of, didn't that strike his little on? Like, what was that? What was that? Maybe there were six-figure payments going to other women for other services and the wife had known about that. There is something intriguing about that. Yeah. Okay.

And then, but so basically she's like, I finally deliver you the head of the IRS. It's like crime upon crime. I will get your audit sorted for the cost of $100,000. It's true. Billy Long takes a real stray here and he might, you know,

it's not inconceivable that Billy's going to get dragged into this nonsense and people are going to just pull these threads. Billy Long is now Ambassador. to where? Iceland. Where was Marco Rubio just a day ago? He was in Recovec.

Now, did the journal call Millie Long and be like, hmm, do you know about this? And was he like, so was Marco basically kept in the dark by two ambassadors about a forthcoming Wall Street Journal scandal involving pay-to-play diplomacy? Think about that.

Can you imagine if this takes down two ambassadors? That would be in similar. On the criminal note of this, and it would be good to get, obviously this just broke the last several hours. We need a lawyer, maybe a former prosecutor, to say, you know, was there actually crimes committed here? You know, what would constitute that? The stink is unbelievable.

It looks like pay to play. Looks like, I mean, all this stuff is just qualifying. Yeah, if you're right, and I just want to, like, we have to qualify, nothing's come out that we know of or that we can confirm. But if you're right that this is continued while she is on the payroll, like I'm an investor, if that's true. And again, we don't know. Then, yeah, I mean, you can't just trade, you can't do things like that. Like, give political favors in exchange for private donations. That's absolutely criminal, I would think.

Right. I mean, obviously, everything's different in the age of Trump, right? Like, what is criminal? But, yeah, that would be a step. And if, if, I mean, hypothetically, if Deeter is the source for this, he probably did not get his audit resolve. I think he's the source for this, buddy. he did not get his audit resolved because then he would be guilty of a crime. So he never made contact with Long.

So instead, he's throwing everybody else under the bus for the intent to commit a crime. So maybe crimes were not committed. And that's why he felt confident enough he could leak all of this to the press with receipts. Yeah, there is some, there is a little high wire act for Dieter here, right? Like, he is actively trying to bribe government officials through a comment. Right, right. Yes. Yes.

But because of the source. because he was unsuccessful. He had died on them instead. We forgot the Kid Rock anecdote, which I'm going to read. I'm going to read here. So just ridiculous shit all around. Beyond that, Dieter's and a local guitarist. So they're talking about how Dieter's was trying to do all this stuff and get on Tucker

and all that shit. Beyond that, Dieter's and a local guitarist had written a song called Kentucky Outlaw, and he wanted Gilfoyle to get the lyrics to country rapper Kid Rock, quote, he's a Kentucky outlaw slash he fights the man and refuses to crawl. Got to bring Kid Rock in. There's always a Kid Rock. Yeah, Kid Rock, Cash Patel.

Really long. It's got everything. All right, fellas, we did, I think we did this justice. I appreciate you both jumping on and doing this live. It's late. We got to go, though, because, you know, there's a lot of shit to do. But we'll stay on this story. For those who like this.

I got to make money, man. Yeah. We got to shut up and make some fucking money. Again, if you're out there, Eric Deeters, and you have more of these texts, hit us up. For those who are not Eric Deeters or just watching this casually, and if you appreciated it,

do subscribe to the Bullwark. You can't do this on YouTube, but on our substack page, we got a sweet deal going 30% off. Deal ends at the end of the week, and you've got to go to the Bullwork.com slash surprise again, 30% off. Offer's going to end in a couple days, I think.

So run there. get it done yada yada yada mark mike thanks buddies appreciate you both