Paolo Zampolli learned on Thursday that his Paolo Zampolli State Department removal was final, ending his role as special envoy for global partnerships after a months-long fight with Christopher Landau. Zampolli said the post was always meant to last a year, and he had already been given more than six months beyond that.
Landau, the deputy secretary of Marco Rubio's State Department, told Zampolli in an email 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 message shows how sharply the dispute narrowed Zampolli's room to operate inside the department.
Landau’s November 14 email
The clash played out in writing. Landau accused Zampolli of overstepping his brief, and the exchange brought dismissal threats, misconduct claims and finger-pointing over press leaks into the open. Zampolli had built Washington access on his ties to Donald Trump and Melania Trump, which made the end of the post more than a routine personnel change.
Zampolli also said Trump told him, "Why do you want to work in government when you can close all these deals?" He added, "The President is always right," and described the next step in his own terms: "Time for the next chapter – back to business, building relationships and closing deals."
Victoria Drake lawsuit
The feud unfolded alongside separate legal problems. Victoria Drake alleged that Zampolli drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Manhattan townhouse in October 2023. Zampolli denied those claims, threatened a $100 million countersuit and filed a criminal defamation complaint against her in Rome.
Zampolli said he brought Donald Trump and Melania Trump together, a role that helped explain his visibility inside Washington even as the department drew a tighter boundary around his portfolio. For readers who watched his influence grow through personal access, the practical change is direct: the special envoy title is gone, and the work attached to it has moved back under stricter control.
Washington and Rome
The remaining open question is whether the State Department will say more about what conduct triggered the end of the appointment. For now, the record shows a written order to stop work outside cultural diplomacy, a later removal from the post, and a separate legal fight that had already followed Zampolli from Manhattan to Rome.
