Trump ally removed from role after report of State Department feud

Paolo Zampolli, a businessman with long personal ties to the Trump family, has been dismissed as the administration's special envoy for global partnerships and is no longer a government employee. A US official said he was told of the termination Thursday, and two other officials confirmed it. The move came within hours of a Politico report describing a dispute, running for months, between Zampolli and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. According to Politico, the two exchanged emails on many subjects, especially who answers to whom, and some messages turned personal, according to CNN.

Zampolli is the latest Trump-connected diplomat to leave abruptly; Kimberly Guilfoyle was recently forced to resign as ambassador to Greece. Zampolli, a former modeling agent, says he introduced Melania Trump to the future president at a 1998 party. President Donald Trump named him to the envoy post in March 2025. Zampolli said the assignment was meant to last a year and had already been prolonged by six months. He thanked Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said he would return to dealmaking, and added that the president "is always right."

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN →