Rubio refuses to comment on Guilfoyle allegations

Secretary of State Marco Rubio batted away questions Thursday about the conduct of President Trump’s ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Guilfoyle solicited cash in exchange for influence with the Trump administration, as part of an effort to pay her debts during the confirmation process for her current role.

The Journal reported last month that the former Fox News host and ex-fiancee of the president’s son gave preferential treatment to a Greek shipping firm, causing Democrats to raise alarm that she’s undermining U.S. policy in the region.

Rubio, responding to reporters’ questions Thursday morning while on diplomatic travel in Greece, said he was not going to comment on the latest story, published Wednesday evening.

“Like, our job is not to respond every time someone decides to give the media something without any advance warning, without having any chance to look at it and see what’s in there,” he said.

“That’s not the way — that’s not the way you run an organization, and that’s not a serious way to conduct the policy of our country.”

Rubio said he didn’t know if the stories against Guilfoyle are “true or not true.”

“So it’s just not going to work that way, and it most certainly is not going to work that way when I’m sitting in another country. All right?”

The Wednesday report from the Journal detailed how Guilfoyle solicited $100,000 for her credit card bill from a Trump donor in a way that wouldn’t leave a paper trail.

“What a nightmare you’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing,” she wrote at one point to the donor, a businessman and former lawyer named Eric Deters.

It was the second time on his trip that Rubio was faced with tough questions about Guilfoyle’s conduct.

Rubio, standing next to Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis on Wednesday, was asked if her involvement in energy dealings complied with State Department ethics.

In September, the Journal reported the ambassador gave preferential access to a Greek energy company in multinational discussions over energy infrastructure. The report also detailed an exchange in which Guilfoyle threatened that the U.S. could bring down a foreign democratic government.

“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,” Rubio said Wednesday.

“The questions you’re asking me, we’re not addressing those at press conferences in Greece with the foreign minister and in another country.”

The top Democrats on the House and Senate foreign affairs panels wrote to Rubio in separate letters last week raising deep concern over the reports about Guilfoyle’s conduct.

“If these reports are accurate, Ambassador Guilfoyle is unfit to represent the United States abroad and should be removed from her position,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Sept. 30.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the outgoing ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations panel, called for “an immediate review of Ambassador Guilfoyle’s actions, and a clarification of what steps have and will be taken to avoid undue influence and even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”