Paolo Zampolli, the man who says he brought Donald Trump and Melania Trump together, has lost his State Department post. His exit caps a months-long battle with a senior official and a swirl of legal problems that reportedly made his position untenable.
How Paolo Zampolli’s clash with Christopher Landau led to his departure
Zampolli reportedly learned on Thursday that his role as special envoy for global partnerships was over. The firing followed a running fight with Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of Marco Rubio’s State Department. Landau accused Zampolli of overstepping his brief, and the two traded blows for months.
Emails obtained by Politico show Landau issuing a blunt order on November 14, 2025: “I am hereby ordering you–once again–to immediately stop all work on ANY issues not directly tied to cultural diplomacy, including every one of the issues you mentioned in your recent emails.” The standoff featured dismissal threats, misconduct claims, and finger-pointing over press leaks.
Furthermore, Zampolli also faced a lawsuit from tech entrepreneur Victoria Drake. She alleged he drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Manhattan townhouse in October 2023. Zampolli denies the claims. He called Drake’s statements false, threatened a $100 million countersuit, and filed a criminal defamation complaint against her in Rome (via The Daily Beast).
Now, Zampolli spun the exit as his own choice. He said special envoy terms last a year and that Donald Trump had already extended his by more than six months. “Years ago, he told me I was too good for modeling and brought me into real estate,” Zampolli told the outlet.
“Now he told me: ‘Why do you want to work in government when you can close all these deals?’ The President is always right.” He added: “Time for the next chapter – back to business, building relationships and closing deals.”
Zampolli built his Washington access on his ties to the first couple. He says he introduced Melania Trump, who was then a Slovenian model, to Donald Trump at a 1998 New York Fashion Week party he hosted at the Kit Kat Club.
