U.S. Ambassador: GD Sent “Threatening, Insulting, Unserious” Letter to Trump Administration
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Georgian Service, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan said she had received a private letter from Georgian Dream addressed to the Trump administration, describing it as “threatening,” “insulting,” and “unserious,” and adding that it was “received extremely poorly in Washington.”
Dunnigan, who is set to leave Georgia after announcing her retirement in June, said that earlier this year, she traveled to Washington to meet with senior officials in the new U.S. administration “to talk about our Georgia policy” and to “have guidance on what they would like their first message to the Georgian government to be.” She said that after returning to Georgia, she met with GD Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili and “very clearly” laid out for her “two or three steps GD could take to help set our relationship back on track.” Dunningan met with Botchorishvili on March 14.
“Three days later […] GD leadership sent a letter to me for the Trump administration,” Dunnigan said, noting that she would not have commented on the letter had GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze not mentioned it publicly himself. The letter, “frankly, was threatening, insulting, unserious, and was received extremely poorly in Washington,” Dunnigan noted, repeating, “Extremely poorly.”
“So it took us a while to come up with a response, that’s true,” Dunnigan said, adding, “I think it took a while because people were so surprised to get such a correspondence from leadership of one country to my country.”
She said that in the meantime, while the U.S. was preparing its response, Irakli Kobakhidze issued an open letter. In the open letter, published on May 13, Kobakhidze called on Trump and J.D. Vance, among others, to break their silence toward the GD government.
“Then, I went to the Prime Minister and said, ‘I have a response from Secretary Rubio that he has asked me to deliver to Bidzina Ivanishvili,” the Ambassador said.
She stressed that she had been asked to deliver the message “directly” to Bidzina Ivanishvili, who, she added, declined. “I was not asked to deliver it to the prime minister,” Dunnigan noted.
When asked whether she had inquired why the letter was to be delivered directly to Ivanishvili and not to the prime minister, Dunnigan responded, “I think most people in the world recognize that Bidzina Ivanishvili runs the government.”
The U.S. Embassy said on May 28 that Ambassador Dunnigan had requested a meeting with Bidzina Ivanishvili on May 22 to deliver a message from the U.S. administration and to once again relay specific steps Georgian Dream could take to “show it is serious about resetting its relationship with the United States.” However, Ivanishvili declined the request and, in his response statement, cited sanctions and fear of blackmail, among others, for refusing U.S. meetings.
Dunnigan further told RFE/RL’s Georgian Service that Ivanishvili’s stated goal of resetting relations between the two countries is “not that hard.”
“One of the first steps would be to stop the anti-American rhetoric. Stop saying things that aren’t true about the United States,” she said, stressing, “There is a lot that GD says that is not true about the United States: That we tried to start a second front here — not true. That my predecessor tried to foment revolution here — not true. That our strategic partnership is a partnership on paper only — not true. That I’m being recalled by my government — not true. I can go on and on.”
Full Interview
In the interview, published in full on July 7, outgoing U.S. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan also reiterated that her retirement was a “personal decision,” pushing back against what she called a “disinformation campaign” by the GD government, which claimed she was being recalled and that her policy was at odds with the U.S. president’s — “none of which is true.”
“Regarding policy in Georgia, I represent the policy of the president and the secretary of state. Nothing I have done here under either administration has been out of line with the president or the secretary of state’s policies, and any caricature or suggestion otherwise is just simply false,” she said.
“I will leave a piece of my heart behind here in Georgia, but it doesn’t mean I’ll stop working in support of Georgia and its democracy. I’ll just be doing it from the other side of the Atlantic in a different way because I very much believe that this country has a democratic future,” Dunnigan added, but expressed concern that “with the current government, the current leadership, that [democratic future] doesn’t seem as clear to me as it did before.”
Amb. Dunnigan also responded to claims by GD officials that the U.S.-Georgia strategic partnership has existed “only on paper,” saying, “I find that comment not only be not true — I find it offensive, because we’ve worked together since 1991 to build a partnership that’s been good for both of our countries.”
While recounting progress with the government early in her tenure, Dunnigan said that since the start of 2024, the GD government “has taken step after step” that “has increasingly isolated Georgia from the United States, has taken Georgia off its own constitutional goal of becoming a member of the EU, has provoked in a negative way its greatest partners — the United States and West, Europe, and has really hurt its reputation, particularly in a business community.”
“Today, the relationship between our governments is in a very difficult situation,” she said, adding, “I think Georgia’s reputation has really suffered, particularly in the last months,” referring to the jailing of opposition leaders and the adoption of what she called “anti-democratic legislation,” among other issues.
While saying it is “really hard to understand” GD’s further self-isolation from the United States and the West, Dunnigan said, “I can speculate that Bidzina Ivanishvili is putting his personal interests above the interests of the country,” citing his refusals to meet with U.S. officials because he is under sanctions.
Speaking about Georgia’s reputation in Washington, she also pointed to the MEGOBARI Act, a U.S. bill that envisions broader sanctions against Georgian Dream officials. The bill passed the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support and awaits a Senate vote.
“I’ve heard from several people in the Senate that they believe that it will eventually pass,” she said.
On the bill’s political significance, Dunnigan said, “It shows you that the actions of this government — how they’re being perceived by Republicans and Democrats in our Congress — […] it shows in part what’s happening to Georgia’s reputation.”
She also highlighted concerns about Georgia’s business climate. “In the end, increasing U.S. investments to Georgia became very difficult because Georgia was increasingly perceived as a country that was getting closer to Russia, Iran, and China,” she said. “There were increasing concerns about safety […] the rule of law and the judicial system.”
Dunnigan added that “most U.S. companies” have frozen their plans to expand investments in Georgia, citing a decline in foreign direct investment figures.
She also said local businesses are worried about the reputational damage to their companies, given the political actions” taking place in Georgia.
Amb. Dunnigan described GD’s “Global War Party” and “deep state” conspiracies as “ridiculous,” “bizarre,” and “conspiratorial,” rejecting claims that the U.S. Embassy is part of the “deep state.”
Asked about the Georgian Foreign Ministry deputy attending a memorial event at the Iranian Embassy, Dunnigan said, “It is very important for my administration if countries are increasing and strengthening their ties with Iran or with China.” She called it “inexplicable” for Georgian Dream to spread falsehoods and take steps that damage ties with the United States, “who has been your strongest supporter over the decades,” while apparently moving closer to Iran and China.
At the end of the half-hour interview, Ambassador Dunnigan stressed the importance of civil society, independent media, and opposition political parties as “core elements of democracy,” expressing concern over their targeting.
“I think it’s more important now than ever at this moment in history that we all do what we can to ensure that we give our democratic freedoms to our kids,” she said, concluding, “I wish the civil society organizations and independent media of this country, and all Georgians really, the best of luck in that quest.”
Tensions Between the U.S. and Georgia
The ambassador’s remarks come amid continued tensions between Washington and Tbilisi, driven by concerns over democratic backsliding, pressure on civil society, and inflammatory statements by ruling party officials.
On November 30, the U.S. suspended the strategic partnership with Georgia. The decision came two days after the Georgian Dream unilaterally suspended EU accession efforts. On December 27, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the ruling party’s founder and its honorary chairman, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is widely believed to be Georgia’s informal ruler.
In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan MEGOBARI Act, which calls for targeted sanctions against individuals in Georgia found to be undermining democratic norms.
On May 21, responding to the question by Rep. Joe Wilson during a hearing at U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to GD as an “anti-American government,” saying the U.S. will assess whether it is in its national interest to have an “anti-American government governing an important part of the world.” Secretary Rubio noted that relations with Georgia are “currently under review.”
Tbilisi tried to downplay Rubio’s remarks, accusing Rep. Joe Wilson, a staunch critic of the GD government, of misleadingly framing the question to the Secretary of State by calling the Georgian Dream an “anti-American government.”
Note: This article was updated on July 7 at 6:50 p.m. after the full interview was published to include additional comments by Ambassador Dunnigan.
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- 03/07/2025 – Amb. Dunnigan Urges Vigilance, Praises U.S.-Georgia Ties in Farewell Speech
- 24/06/2025 – GD Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili Removed, Replaced by Mariam Kvrivishvili
- 16/06/2025 – GD Foreign Minister Meets State Department’s Senior Advisor
- 02/04/2025 – U.S. Helsinki Commission Reprimands Georgian Dream for “Surrendering”Anaklia Port to Chinese Control
- 01/04/2025 – GD Minister of Economy Davitashvili Meets with US Ambassador Dunnigan