US congressman requests probe into ambassador’s claims about fall of Romanian government

Gregory Meeks, the leading Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, officially requested on September 30 that the State Department, led by secretary Marco Rubio, confirm whether the US government was involved in the fall of the Ilie Bolojan government in Romania.

The congressman's letter is only the latest episode in the scandal surrounding US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, who allegedly stated at a March dinner with the Greek energy minister in Athens that the United States had been involved in the dismissal of the Ilie Bolojan government.

The US ambassador is now accused of using Christos Marafatsos, a registered lobbyist for the Greek construction and energy group Aktor Group, as a chief of staff during high-level official meetings.

Aktor allegedly paid Marafatsos USD 160,000 through June 2026 to facilitate connections with the State Department, the Department of Energy, and the White House.

Together, Marafatsos and Guilfoyle allegedly conducted diplomatic visits and applied commercial pressure in the Balkans. They promoted Aktor’s interests in discussions with Bulgaria’s president and prime minister concerning the Vertical Gas Corridor, brokered a USD 6 billion LNG agreement between US companies and Aktor LNG following a talk with Albanian PM Edi Rama, and pressured Romanian and Greek public officials.

Meeks officially asked whether the Wall Street Journal report on Guilfoyle was true and whether the ambassador knew anything concrete about US involvement in the fall of the Bolojan government.

He also asked whether the State Department, the White House, the National Security Council, or any other US institution had authorized or coordinated activities intended to influence the composition or survival of the Romanian government.

In addition, Democratic congressman Meeks explicitly requested internal documents from the State Department and the US Embassy in Athens concerning Guilfoyle’s trips to Romania, her relationship with Marafatsos, and the March conversation about the Romanian government.

The State Department was given a deadline of October 15, 2026, to provide the Committee with all records, emails, and diplomatic notes from September 2025 to the present. These include ethics recommendations received by the ambassador, details concerning private jet flights, and all notes relating to the March 2026 conversation about the governments of Romania and Greece.