GOP donor Eric Deters refused Kimberly Guilfoyle’s $100,000 wire plea, paid Trump’s sons $300,000 in fees, then blasted their crypto deals and Kushner’s Saudi cash as a “yuck-yuck world” he rejects.
Eric Deters, a Kentucky attorney and longtime MAGA donor, voiced raw frustration Thursday morning with the business side of President Trump’s family after The Wall Street Journal detailed payments tied to Kimberly Guilfoyle and the Trump sons.
Deters told MS NOW’s Peter Alexander he had “no issues” with the speaking fees he already paid, yet drew a hard line at the flash and the personal requests. He still backs the policies and said he will keep supporting the president and MAGA candidates.
The Hill reported Deters’ remarks the same day the Journal’s earlier account of the Guilfoyle request circulated.
The Journal first reported Wednesday that Guilfoyle, now U.S. ambassador to Greece and Donald Trump Jr.’s former fiancée, pressed Deters to wire $100,000 to her American Express account ahead of her July 9 Senate confirmation hearing. Deters did not send the money. He said it would have caused problems in his marriage.
Additional details from the New York Post show Guilfoyle texted Deters on July 3, 2025, days before the hearing. She wrote, “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” and added that a wire to American Express “won’t show up anywhere.”
Deters had earlier discussed helping with her legal and tax matters and had talked of larger support. He refused the urgent AmEx request. Guilfoyle was later confirmed 51-47. Her attorney has disputed the authenticity of the messages.
Deters did not soften his view of her conduct. He linked the episode to a pattern he claims continues in her current post, a claim that sits alongside earlier reporting on the same AmEx payoff pressure before her Greece posting.
"Kimberly Guilfoyle, I have no doubt, has done this to more than me."
He went further on the interview.
"She’s doing it right now in Greece. I know Corey Lewandowski did this stuff. I know Kristi Noem did this stuff."
He called her a “wicked, evil person” and a “grifter.” Those are his words, not proven findings. No charges or formal ethics rulings appear in the available accounts.
The same Journal report said Deters paid Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump a combined $300,000 in speaking fees. Deters confirmed he had no problem with those payments. His objection landed elsewhere.
"The only thing that bothers me about [Donald Trump Jr.] and Eric Trump is how they, along with their father, are getting rich out in the open with crypto and everything else."
He added a sharper note on the policy shift he perceives.
"President Trump said he hated crypto, his sons get in crypto, now he loves crypto."
That family business scrutiny echoes separate questions around the brothers’ overseas ventures, including a Kazakhstan tungsten investment that drew its own review. Deters framed his discomfort as cultural, not policy-based.
He put it in plain Midwest terms.
"I’m a Midwest farm boy. I’m a good dude. I don’t like their yuck-yuck world."
And he closed the door on the club scene.
"You couldn’t pay me to go back to Mar-a-Lago."
Deters also trained fire on Jared Kushner. He criticized the “controversial $2 billion” Kushner’s private equity firm received from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund after the first Trump administration. He offered no new documents, only the public figure and his own disapproval.
At the same time Deters kept his political bottom line clear. He contributed $125,000 to a PAC supporting Trump in 2022. He said he likes most of the president’s policies and will continue backing him and other MAGA candidates. He even voiced support for the White House ballroom project.
The personal critique ran alongside that support. Deters said he “cannot stand” what he called the president’s megalomania, egomania, and “Mount Rushmore talk and arch talk.” He claimed Trump “loves billionaires and any MAGA politician” and “doesn’t care about average rank-and-file people unless they’re for his votes.” Those remain Deters’ characterizations. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Separate legal friction around Donald Trump Jr. has surfaced in other settings, including claims the Secret Service blocked a subpoena in a large defamation case. Deters’ complaint stayed focused on the money and the lifestyle he rejects.
Inner-circle turbulence is not new. Recent moves such as staff shifts tied to the Vance-Carlson rift show the same ecosystem can produce public breaks even among allies.
The verified sequence is straightforward. Deters gave six figures to a Trump PAC in 2022. He paid the Trump sons $300,000 in speaking fees. Guilfoyle sought $100,000 for her AmEx bill days before her confirmation hearing. He refused. She was confirmed and now serves in Greece. He went on television, praised the policy agenda, and unloaded on the personal and financial style surrounding the family and certain associates.
No law-enforcement action, no ethics finding, and no White House reply appear in the reporting. Deters supplied his own motives: marriage concerns on the wire, cultural distaste for the “yuck-yuck world,” and continued political loyalty on the issues he cares about.
Donors who pen big checks still get to draw personal lines. When they do it out loud, the gap between policy wins and family-business optics becomes harder to ignore.
