[UPDATE] Donor says Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle's $100,000 credit-card request was 'pay to play'; House Democrats request her records by Oct. 22

Eric Deters is the Trump donor whose texts show Kimberly Guilfoyle asking him to pay $100,000 toward her American Express bill, with up to $1 million more from him if her efforts succeeded, per The Wall Street Journal. He told CBS on camera that the request was "pay to play." Guilfoyle is now the U.S. ambassador to Greece. Deters says he paid her $300,000 over the years for earlier events, compared with nothing on this request: "I didn't have $100,000 to spare or I actually would have been a dumbass enough to do it." The texts. CBS reviewed a 292-page file Deters supplied. It reported that White House officials were told the messages are authentic. In one, Guilfoyle wrote: "What a nightmare you'll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing." Her attorney disputes that the messages are real. The administration. In Athens, Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeatedly declined to discuss it. "It's not the gospel, it's not the gospel for me," he told reporters. Vice President JD Vance was asked about an ambassador seeking a debt payoff for access. "I don't know exactly who you're talking about," he said. Congress. Robert Garcia (Rep-D California), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, sent Guilfoyle a letter asking for her financial records. Thom Tillis (Sen-R North Carolina) called the episode "at best horrible optics, and at worst, something that's worthy of a termination." What next. Garcia's letter asks for the records by Thursday, Oct. 22. It is a request, not a subpoena, so she is not compelled to answer it.