'It was a definite quid pro quo.' GOP donor who accused Guilfoyle of corruption speaks out

Amna Nawaz:

A Republican donor is accusing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle of asking for a $100,000 payment in exchange for access to top Trump administration officials.

I spoke a short while ago with Eric Deters, a former Kentucky congressional candidate, about those requests for payment and the access he was promised in return that he argues Guilfoyle never provided.

Eric Deters, welcome to the "News Hour." Thank you so much for joining us.

Eric Deters, Former Attorney:

Thanks for having me.

Amna Nawaz:

So, you have known Kimberly Guilfoyle for years. You have known the Trump family for years.

You support President Trump. You're now distributing a nearly 300-page document with text messages and other documents claiming that Kimberly Guilfoyle asked you to pay her $100,000 American Express credit card bill. And, in exchange, she would provide White House access for you. Why are you coming forward with all this now?

Eric Deters:

I'm doing so because I have given the Trump administration from the top all the way down, J.D. Vance, Susie Wiles, Don Jr., Todd Blanche, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Kimberly Guilfoyle, an opportunity to help me help the Dr. Durrani victims, 580 spine surgeries that were not necessary, 185 children, 100 that have died.

And I decided. I gave them one last chance last Thursday. I sent an e-mail to Susie Wiles, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Don Jr. and I said: "If you do not set in motion some assistance to extradite Dr. Durrani back from Pakistan to face justice for these folks, I'm going to go to the media and see what happens."

So that's what I did. My motive in all of this is revenge, for lack of a better word, for their not helping the Dr. Durrani victims.

Amna Nawaz:

I want to clarify here for folks who are catching up, Dr. Durrani was an Ohio doctor. He fled to Pakistan, and you represent, I understand, a number of his former patients who were harmed, they claim, and want to sue him for malpractice.

So you have said very clearly here, you believe this was a quid pro quo, that Kimberly Guilfoyle asked you to pay her $100,000 American Express bill, and, in exchange, she would help you with this request. Is that correct?

Eric Deters:

That's absolutely correct.

She told me that if I paid -- after I'd already paid her $300,000, and she knew I was going to give her another million dollars if she helped me with this cause, which she didn't. So when she asked me for another $100,000, I said, Kimberly, you haven't done anything for me yet.

And she promised me that she would be my ride or die in the Trump administration, no request too big, too small, as many requests as I wanted. She would do anything and everything to help me. And she was -- she wanted to cover it up. She wanted to keep it secret. She wanted me to use Signal. She wanted me not to paper it.

She got mad at me because I would send e-mails and text messages that she didn't want me to send. The bottom line was, is, it was a definite quit pro quo. That was what she was offering me.

Amna Nawaz:

You write that -- you share, rather, in these text messages too. A few of those messages from her on July 3, she wrote to you and said, "Honey, please, I need you to get this done for me today," referencing the payment, and then sends an American Express portal to make that payment.

And she also, as you mentioned, asked you to not put things in writing, saying: "What a nightmare. You will literally cost me my ambassadorship. Stop writing."

I do have to ask you too, Eric, because you faced your own legal issues, right? You have had the Kentucky Bar Association suspend you twice for making false court statements and frivolous claims. Some people will say, why should we believe you now?

Eric Deters:

Well, first off, I dispute all of that. We can't do it at this time frame here, but I just -- suffice it to say this. I'm a retired lawyer because I got tired of the lawyer game. I got tired of the system.

Amna Nawaz:

You say in this letter as well that you're calling out President Trump for what you call the open grifting and enrichment. Are you saying it's not just Kimberly Guilfoyle who's engaging in this?

Eric Deters:

You have Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump doing crypto, getting on boards, Jared Kushner's $3 billion Saudi fund.

Amna Nawaz:

If I may, those are all legal and open business ventures, right? What you're alleging here with Guilfoyle is that you were going to pay her credit card bill in exchange for access. That's something different.

Eric Deters:

Well, I agree with you, but that was her request, not me. I wasn't doing anything wrong.

Amna Nawaz:

So you said that this is revenge for Guilfoyle not making good on her promise. What do you want to see happen now? Why come forward with all this information?

Eric Deters:

I sent an e-mail today to Kimberly Guilfoyle, Susie Wiles, and Don Jr., and I sent them a message and I told them, I am going to keep talking about the extradition of Dr. Durrani back to the United States until the cows come home.

Amna Nawaz:

Eric Deters, thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate your time.

Eric Deters:

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.