Rubio declines comment on allegations involving Guilfoyle

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to address allegations that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle asked a political donor to pay a $100,000 credit-card bill in exchange for access to administration officials. Rubio said in Greece on Thursday that he did not know whether the claims were true and would not resolve them through questions from reporters. The allegations stem from messages that donor Eric Deters provided to The Wall Street Journal. The paper reported that Guilfoyle asked Deters to pay $100,000 toward her American Express bill before her Senate confirmation and promised him access to figures in the Trump administration. Deters said he did not make the payment. The messages’ authenticity and the meaning of the alleged access arrangement have not been independently established in the supplied accounts. Guilfoyle’s lawyer disputed the messages’ authenticity and said she was owed money for travel and speaking engagements before her nomination. Deters, in turn, told the paper that he did not owe her a balance. The competing statements leave the authenticity of the messages disputed.