U.S. Ambassador: Georgian Dream Sent 'Threatening' Letter to Trump Administration
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
In an interview with RFE/RL's Georgian Service, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan revealed that the ruling Georgian Dream party sent a private letter to the Trump administration earlier this year that she described as "threatening," "insulting," and "unserious."
According to Dunnigan, the letter was delivered shortly after she met with Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili on March 14 to convey steps that could help reset U.S.-Georgia relations. The ambassador said she had just returned from Washington, where she met with senior officials in the new U.S. administration to discuss policy toward Georgia.
"Three days later [.] GD leadership sent a letter to me for the Trump administration," Dunnigan said. "Frankly, [it] was threatening, insulting, unserious, and was received extremely poorly in Washington." She added, "I think it took a while [to respond] because people were so surprised to get such a correspondence from leadership of one country to my country."
Dunnigan said she would not have mentioned the letter publicly had Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze not raised the matter himself. On May 13, Kobakhidze issued an open letter urging former President Donald Trump and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance to respond to what he described as unfair treatment of the Georgian government.
Dunnigan said that after the open letter was published, she informed the prime minister that she had been asked to deliver a message from U.S. Senator Marco Rubio directly to Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. "I was not asked to deliver it to the prime minister," she noted.
When asked why the message was to go to Ivanishvili rather than to government officials, Dunnigan said, "I think most people in the world recognize that Bidzina Ivanishvili runs the government."
The U.S. Embassy later confirmed that Ambassador Dunnigan requested a meeting with Ivanishvili on May 22 to deliver the message and reiterate specific steps Georgia could take to repair ties with the United States. Ivanishvili declined the meeting, citing fears of sanctions, blackmail, and political pressure from the West.
Dunnigan, who announced her retirement in June, said the steps needed to reset relations "are not that hard." She criticized Georgian Dream's continued anti-U.S. rhetoric and false accusations.
"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. "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."
In response to the ambassador's interview, Georgian Dream led Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili dismissed both the remarks and the platform on which they were published.
"The interview of the resigned ambassador is being disseminated by 'Radio Free Europe,' which was exposed as a propaganda outlet by President Trump - neither one nor the other is of interest to us," Papuashvili said. He claimed that Radio Free Europe was originally created and secretly funded by the CIA, adding that "its funding has been cut off" and that "Trump's desire is to shut down Radio Free Europe entirely."
"Commenting on the statements of a resigned ambassador is not in our interest," he said, adding, "It's clear to everyone who resigned prematurely between the two of us - as they say, everything is clear."
