Vance on Guilfoyle texts: If ‘something bad’ happened, ‘people have to suffer consequences’

Vice President Vance weighed in Friday on reporting that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle asked one of President Trump’s donors for debt relief in exchange for political access, saying “people have to suffer the consequences” if “something bad happened.”

“Look, these are allegations, and what I always say is: we don’t try people in the court of public opinion. We try people in a court of law,” Vance told reporters during a trip to his home state of Ohio.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday that Guilfoyle allegedly asked Eric Deters to wire $100,000 to American Express without a paper trail ahead and, in exchange, promised to help him reach senior administration officials. The request came just ahead of her confirmation hearing for the Greece ambassadorship before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Deters shot her down , saying it would cost him his marriage, according to messages shared with the Journal, and later obtained by The Hill’s broadcast partner, NewsNation.

“You don’t take messages that people allegedly had between one person or another, or one person’s story, and say, ‘Oh, because of that, Kimberly Guilfoyle is, is guilty.’ I think that’s absurd,” Vance said Friday. “Let’s actually see what the facts are. Let’s see what the truth is.”

He added, “And obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences for it.”

The scandal has added scrutiny to advisers in Trump’s orbit. Asked whether the Guilfoyle allegations are “how the administration works,” the vice president said “certainly not.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a diplomatic trip to Greece, also shrugged off reporters’ questions about whether he maintained confidence in Guilfoyle and whether her conduct raised any concerns.

“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,” Rubio said.

Vance was in Ohio on Friday to cast his midterm vote and take part in a rally to support Republicans, including incumbent Sen. Jon Husted and GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy, in the Buckeye State.