The claim
“Kimberly Guilfoyle denies the authenticity of the text messages reported by the Wall Street Journal.”
JD Vance was reported to have made this claim on 9 October 2026, in coverage by The Independent of his comments about the Kimberly Guilfoyle text message scandal.
Our verdict
Unverified
We could not confirm or refute this claim. Kimberly Guilfoyle's lawyer did tell the Wall Street Journal that she disputes the authenticity of the reported text messages, but we found no direct public statement from Guilfoyle herself, and JD Vance's public comments did not include this denial.
Know something that settles it? Send us evidenceWhat we found
The claim is unverifiable. Several news outlets, including The Hill and The Independent, report that Kimberly Guilfoyle's lawyer, Jesse Binnall, told the Wall Street Journal that she disputes the authenticity of the text messages. That is a documented denial made through her legal representative. However, we could not find a direct, public statement from Guilfoyle herself denying the messages, and the sources we reviewed do not show JD Vance making this denial on her behalf. His public comments were general reactions to the scandal, not a statement about the messages' authenticity. Because the denial is documented only through her lawyer and not in her own words, we cannot say the claim is fully accurate as stated.
The evidence
6 sources, all background: none settles the claim either way.
- Background
The Independent reports that Kimberly Guilfoyle's lawyer, Jesse Binnall, told the Wall Street Journal that she disputes the authenticity of the text messages. [1]
- Background
The Hill also reports that Guilfoyle's lawyer, Jesse Binnall, told the Wall Street Journal that she disputes the authenticity of the text messages. [2]
- Background
The Union Leader reports that the Wall Street Journal published a report about text messages between Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Deters. [3]
- Background
The Hill reports that the Wall Street Journal published a report detailing alleged text messages between Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Deters about a $100,000 wire transfer. [4]
- Background
CBS News confirms that the Wall Street Journal reported on the text messages between Guilfoyle and Deters. [5]
- Background
The Independent reports that Kimberly Guilfoyle has publicly disputed the authenticity of the text messages reported by the Wall Street Journal. [6]
What we could not confirm
- We could not find a direct, public statement from Kimberly Guilfoyle herself denying the authenticity of the text messages; the denial is documented only through her lawyer.
- We could not find evidence that JD Vance made this specific denial about the authenticity of the messages, as opposed to general comments about the scandal.
- We could not independently verify the technical authenticity of the text messages themselves.
- We did not have access to the original Wall Street Journal investigative report and relied on secondary news coverage.
How we checked
We reviewed news reports from The Independent, The Hill, the Union Leader and CBS News about the Wall Street Journal's reporting on the text messages and the response from Kimberly Guilfoyle's legal representative. We looked for a direct public statement from Guilfoyle or from JD Vance confirming the denial, but found none in the sources available to us. If you have evidence about this claim, please send it to us. We reviewed 9 relevant sources.
Sources
- [1]www.independent.co.uk · JD Vance and even a Trump loyalist trash Kimberly Guilfoyle over texts to donor · October 9, 2026
- [2]thehill.com · Read Guilfoyle’s texts to GOP donor Deters: ‘You’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship’ · October 9, 2026
- [3]unionleader.com · Kimberly Guilfoyle, ‘broke’ after split from Trump Jr, begged donor for cash to pay Amex bill: report · October 8, 2026
- [4]thehill.com · Guilfoyle asked GOP donor to wire her $100K for AmEx bill: Wall Street Journal report · October 8, 2026
- [5]cbsnews.com · Kimberly Guilfoyle associate says when she asked him for $100K, it was "quid pro quo"
- [6]independent.co.uk · JD Vance addresses Kimberly Guilfoyle report: 'Obviously, I don’t love that' · October 9, 2026
- [7]Photo: Emily J. Higgins / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Help us check this claim
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. If you know of an official record, dataset, transcript or report that settles it, send us the link. We review every submission and update this fact check when the evidence changes the picture.
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