You have been granted access, use your keyboard to continue reading. He had an unlikely rise, from modeling agent to presidential special envoy. After his firing, he was unrepentant: “I need to make money.” Paolo Zampolli at his Milan apartment in 2024.
President Trump fired him from his administration this month.Credit...Maurizio Fiorino for The New York Times Paolo Zampolli’s explanations for why he was fired from the Trump administration come tumbling out, one after another, much in the way that Paolo Zampolli’s explanations always do. Slightly difficult to understand or believe. It was the evening of Oct. 15, just a few hours since he had been cut loose from his post at the State Department, and Zampolli was reflecting on his time in government in a phone call.
Between the downfalls of Kimberly Guilfoyle and Katie Zacharia, Zampolli was given the heave-ho from his job as special envoy for global partnerships. He had long annoyed Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state. Hours after Politico published a report about the “nasty email fight” between the two, the State Department confirmed in a statement that Zampolli had been “terminated.” Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the firing was that it didn’t happen sooner.
In the constellation of unlikely diplomats, aides and officials who have populated President Trump’s second administration, Zampolli, a former modeling agent who once had dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, managed to stand out. His appointment to the State Department in March 2025 said a lot about the standards the president has for those who represent his interests, and the interest of the United States, abroad. Zampolli’s reputation was as grotty as his leash was long.
Like others in Trump’s orbit, Zampolli, 56, had ties to Andrew and Tristan Tate, the manosphere influencers who came under criminal investigation in Romania and were charged with rape and sex trafficking in Britain. But while other powerful people distanced themselves from the brothers, Zampolli became more visibly associated with them. In July, days before the Tates were arrested as part of an extradition request from Britain, he hosted them at a party at his home in Washington.
Zampolli himself has been accused of rape. Victoria Drake, a 33-year-old model and entrepreneur, filed a civil suit against him in a federal court in Manhattan last month, saying he had drugged and raped her in 2023. Zampolli has vehemently denied her accusations.
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