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Don Lemon
Host, The Don Lemon Show; Political Commentator, The Don Lemon Show

LEMON DROP - Trump Donor Says Kimberly Guilfoyle Asked Him to Pay Her $100K AmEx Bill

📅 Oct 09, 2026 Don Lemon 16 MIN 42975 VIEWS 51 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
Former Trump donor Eric Deters says Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.'s former fiancée and now U.S. Ambassador to Greece, asked him to pay off a $100,000 American Express bill while promising access to Trump's White House. Deters joins Don with what he says are the receipts, then the two go head-to-head on MAGA, patriotism and race in America. GUEST: Eric Deters FIND THE DON LEMON SHOW: Youtube:    / @thedonlemonshow   Substack: https://substack.com/@donlemon Facebook: facebook.com/donlemon Instagram: instagram.com/donlemonofficial Tik Tok: tiktok.com/@donlemonofficial LEMON NATION: Web...

What Don Lemon said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Don Lemon interviews Eric Dieters, a self-described MAGA leader from Cincinnati, who says he gave Kimberly Guilfoyle $300,000 and promised another $1 million if she helped publicize his quest to extradite Dr. Durrani, whom he accuses of unnecessary spine surgeries on 580 victims, including 185 children. Dieters claims Guilfoyle then asked him to pay her $100,000 American Express bill, which he refused, and that she cut off contact afterward. He calls her a 'grifter' and alleges she proposed a false letter and using Signal to hide the payment. Dieters criticizes the Trump administration for ignoring his requests to J.D. Vance, Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Susie Wiles, and President Trump. He admits he would not have spoken out if his request had been granted. He supports Trump's border and anti-crime policies but is 'soured on MAGA' and now considers himself an independent.

Key takeaways

  1. Dieters says Kimberly Guilfoyle asked him for $100,000 to pay her American Express bill, and he refused.
  2. Dieters says he gave Guilfoyle $300,000 and promised another $1 million if she helped extradite Dr. Durrani.
  3. Dieters accuses the Trump administration of ignoring his requests to extradite Dr. Durrani.
  4. Dieters admits he would not have exposed corruption if the administration had helped him.
  5. Dieters says he is now an independent voter, soured on MAGA.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
$100,000 Amount Guilfoyle asked Dieters for to pay AmEx card commitment 2:08
$2 million a year Dieters' annual spending on fighting for Durrani victims metric 2:08
580 victims Number of victims of unnecessary spine surgery metric 5:22
185 children Number of child victims among the 580 metric 5:22
$4 billion Amount Warren Buffett brags giving away per year metric 8:25
$40 million Amount Buffett allegedly could not give to Durrani victims metric 8:25

Chapters

  1. 0:00Paid for access to Trump family
  2. 2:08Guilfoyle asks for $100K AmEx payment
  3. 4:26Accusations of grifting and illegal request
  4. 5:22Extradition request ignored by administration
  5. 8:14Admitting motives for speaking out
  6. 9:50Support for Trump policies fades
  7. 12:00Criticism of ICE and police shootings
  8. 13:56Declares independence from parties

Questions asked in this interview

4
  1. 7:25See, do you ever see a blue-collar guy with boots having lunch or dinner with him in New Jersey or Mar-a-Lago?
  2. 8:25Why doesn't the media just admit their bias and prejudice?
  3. 9:50I'm not good with what everybody characterizes the woke agenda, okay?
  4. 13:41What am I supposed to do?
Don Lemon 0:00 ↗
Eric, is it right, Deeters or Debtors? I don't want to get your name wrong.
Eric Dieters 0:02 ↗
It's Deeters, thank you, Don. It's Deeters.
Don Lemon 0:03 ↗
I was right. I was right. Eric, look. Thank you, brother, for joining us. So, look. You said that you paid, you paid serious money to get close to the family. You said that yourself, and now you've been treated like... correct?
Eric Dieters 0:18 ↗
Yeah. By the way, I love that we can cuss.
Don Lemon 0:25 ↗
So, you admit that you paid...
Eric Dieters 0:27 ↗
I've been treated like crap, Don. That's for sure.
Don Lemon 0:30 ↗
You admit that you paid for access, and you got nothing from it. Am I correct? Am I wrong? Am I right?
Eric Dieters 0:35 ↗
Absolutely. I played the game with money and friendship and time. And when I came to ask for a favor, and what's really, what's really sad about it, Don, and we talked a little bit about this yesterday on the phone. What's really sad about it is you and I might disagree on policies. And I always like to joke, I am married. This is fine. My wife and some of my dearest friends are what I call traditional liberals.
And we get along. We get along. I mean, for example, I get a kick out of the Ragin' Cajun, James Carville. But the one thing that we will agree on is the fact that this administration, President Trump's administration, and while I've supported most of his policies, I cannot stand his egomania and the fact that I always said, and you might disagree with this, but I always thought Joe Biden and Hunter Biden ran kind of a shadow grifting going on. But with the Trumps, they've taken it to a whole new level. They just do it right out in the open. So, Kimberly Guilfoyle, after I've done all stuff for her, given her $300,000, promised her another million dollars if she helped me draw attention to Medical Protective and the plight of the Dr. Durrani victims and get Dr. Durrani extradited back here.
And all she needs to say is, 'Oh, Eric, I need $100,000 to pay off my American Express card.' And I said, 'Wait a minute, Kimberly. You haven't done squat for me. Why should I have to pay you more?' And I made up the BS excuse that my wife would divorce me, that my wife didn't even know nothing about it. I mean, I'm, you know, I played the old wife card. Men do that, you know, you say, 'Hey, my wife would be upset with me.' At the time, because I'm spending $2 million a year fighting for these Durrani victims against Medical Protective, I didn't have an extra $100,000 lying around to give to Kimberly Guilfoyle. And it's so funny, Don, because since that time where I said I'm not going to do this, I finally told her I wasn't going to do it, I never heard from her again. I never heard from her again.
Don Lemon 2:56 ↗
Let me ask you this. Why on earth would she think that you would give her $100,000? Is it because, do you think you set yourself up for this, because you said you gave them money because you wanted to play? Do you think you set yourself up to be the mark here?
Eric Dieters 3:11 ↗
Yeah, yeah, I did. And but the funny thing is, Don, first off, I want to tell you Kimberly Guilfoyle is the most overbearing... I mean, she's a first-class... I see where she's in trouble in Greece, that at 4:00 a.m. she's asking somebody to bring her ice cubes. And in the memorandum that I sent you, I detailed some of the stuff that my wife had to tolerate from her in the VIP tent. But what happened was, is she thought I was a sucker. She thought that I'm giving her this money, I'm paying her this money, I'm paying these speaker fees. So, she just thought that I was all good. And I challenged her, Don. I said, 'Of all the people in your world, you're asking me for $100,000 to pay your Amex card?' And she said, 'Oh, you're the only one that actually would do anything, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're the only one I can trust.' And then she said, 'I'll be your ride or die forever.' And I can tell you right now, Don, the way my interactions with Kimberly Guilfoyle, I have zero doubt that she was probably asking how many other people to pay off this American Express card. She's a grifter.
Don Lemon 4:26 ↗
Oh, say it again.
Eric Dieters 4:28 ↗
She is a grifter, and she knew it was illegal, unethical, and wrong because she wanted to hide it. She wanted to pay for it with a false letter from me saying it was for past services rendered. I mean, she wanted me to talk on Signal. She knew it was wrong. Don, I didn't realize once you're nominated as an ambassador, all the laws kick in. And what really disappoints me, Don, and I share this with you, is the Trump administration. Donald, President Trump doesn't give a damn about people. He doesn't give a damn unless you're a billionaire, you're a mega congressman, senator, or governor, or there's a news item that he can attach to. If you notice, if I ran into a burning building and saved five kids, and it made national news, he'd invite me to the White House.
And I asked, just think about this. These are 580 victims of an unnecessary spine surgery, 185 children, and Dr. Durrani is indicted, and he flees the country. By the way, I'm not plugging my book, I'm just pointing it out. This is his wanted poster, his most wanted poster, okay? He's in Pakistan. There's an extradition treaty with Pakistan. And my number one request from Don Jr., J.D. Vance, by the way, I'm going to come hard at J.D. Vance because this happened in his backyard. J.D. Vance, Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Susie Wiles, the president, Kimberly Guilfoyle, all this million-dollar donor asked of this administration on behalf of these people. My tax issue was a civil dispute on a deduction. It's not criminal. I don't care about my tax issue. I'll either pay it or win. My focus was extradition. So my big... I didn't ask for a job. I didn't ask for anything. My number one focus was get this guy extradited.
And the president and all those people I just named ignored me. Didn't even respond. I mean, in a weird, quirky fact, you're going to love this, Don. One of my good friends lives next to J.D. Vance in Cincinnati. The Secret Service rents his house. Rents his house. So, my buddy gives it to the Secret Service buddy that he has and says, 'Give this to J.D. Vance.' And the Secret Service agent, 'I'll make sure I put it in his hand.' So, Mr. Fraud flying around the country claiming he's fighting fraud and everything else, refused to even acknowledge a request to investigate the fraud of Medical Protective and extradite Dr. Durrani. Didn't even respond.
They don't give a damn about people. And the whole MAGA, you have to understand, I was a le... I'm the leader of MAGA in the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky area. No one is a bigger MAGA person than I am in Cincinnati Northern. You ask anybody in Cincinnati who's the biggest MAGA person, they'd say, 'That's Dieters.' I want to tell you something. I asked for one thing and they didn't care. And I'm pissed off. I mean, it pisses me off. And the reality is President Trump doesn't care about the people except for their votes. See, do you ever see a blue-collar guy with boots having lunch or dinner with him in New Jersey or Mar-a-Lago? No. No.
Don Lemon 8:14 ↗
Well, look, okay, Eric. So, you know what folks are going to say. What took... You didn't get what you wanted, so you turned on them. But if you had gotten what you wanted, would you still be pointing out that they're corrupt and...
Eric Dieters 8:25 ↗
No. No. Don, I love honesty. I run a... I have a media company. My number one job is a legal consultant, victims' advocate, and I have a little media company down here, Eric Dieters Media. And I always say this about the media, and it kind of pisses me off. Why doesn't the media just admit their bias and prejudice? Or, 'I can't cover that story because I'm friends with them.' And that's the way I am. So, I am being 1,000% completely honest, and people can not like me for it, but I'm being honest with you. Of course, if they would have done this for me, no, no, I'm being honest, nobody would hear about it. I am admitting my motive. My motive is to help these... and I hope your viewers understand this. It's a pretty good motive. I'm trying to help 580 victims of an unnecessary spine surgery get justice from Dr. Durrani and his insurance company, Medical Protective, which by the way, owned by Berkshire Hathaway and controlled by Warren Buffett. And Warren Buffett brags that he gives $4 billion away a year, and he couldn't give $40 million to Durrani victims.
Don Lemon 9:36 ↗
Do you think maybe a Democratic administration might have helped you out?
Eric Dieters 9:40 ↗
Absolutely. And Don, I want to tell you something.
Don Lemon 9:43 ↗
All right. So, listen, Eric, then if you do, then I don't understand why you would still support the Trump administration if a Democratic president might have given...
Eric Dieters 9:50 ↗
I'm being candid with you, okay? I'm a Midwest farm boy, grew up on a farm. I have those Midwest values, okay? And we're going to disagree about this, Don, but I kind of like the president's political agenda. Now, that's changing, too. Now, let me explain that. The president and the Republicans are in la-la land about how the fuel prices are changing people's views about this president and this administration. I have very dear friends, farmers, construction workers, all kinds of folks. And this fuel price issue is bad. And Don, let me tell you something. I'm kind of a man without a party, okay? I am not... although I could tell traditional liberals I'm fine with. I'm not good with what everybody characterizes the woke agenda, okay? But I hate the Republican establishment. I hate country clubbers. Don, I've never joined a country club because I don't want that image. I mean, I hate...
Don Lemon 10:57 ↗
Isn't that the Republican Party? I don't see many liberals in the country club.
Eric Dieters 11:01 ↗
There's not.
Don Lemon 11:03 ↗
All right. So, then I always ask people this, Eric. Let's get into this and then we'll get back to Kimberly Guilfoyle.

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APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Lemon, D. (2026, October 9). LEMON DROP - Trump Donor Says Kimberly Guilfoyle Asked Him to Pay Her $100K AmEx Bill [Interview transcript]. Don Lemon. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3048763/

MLA

Don Lemon. "LEMON DROP - Trump Donor Says Kimberly Guilfoyle Asked Him to Pay Her $100K AmEx Bill." Don Lemon, 9 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3048763/.

BibTeX
@misc{lemon2026_3048763,
  author       = {Don Lemon},
  title        = {LEMON DROP - Trump Donor Says Kimberly Guilfoyle Asked Him to Pay Her $100K AmEx Bill},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Don Lemon. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {oct},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3048763/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}