Top Trump adviser Ric Grenell allegedly outlined a stunning pay-for-influence offer to a Turkish billionaire last year: access to "POTUS," "VIP events" and administration officials, according to a text message, reviewed by Axios, that the White House counsel is investigating.
- "Once the money comes to the company here, I will arrange the donation to Kennedy Centre [sic], and you'll be joining the VIP events and get close with the administration, even with POTUS," the May 3, 2025, text says.
- Grenell has called the accusations "lies" and denied sending the text message.
Why it matters: Administration officials say the text is a key piece of evidence in the White House's investigation — ordered by President Trump — into whether Grenell abused the president's trust and misappropriated a potential multimillion-dollar donation to the Kennedy Center, which Grenell led at the time.
- Grenell also served in another Trump-appointed capacity: as special envoy to Venezuela, where Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon also had contracts.
- "We need to make you the 'American face' down in V," Grenell allegedly wrote in the same 2025 text message to Mildon, whose attorneys sent the text, at least one financial document and other correspondence to the White House counsel's office, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
- Mildon is married to another Trump adviser: former U.S. attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, who stormed into the Oval Office on Oct. 9 and accused Grenell of hoodwinking her husband into making a Kennedy Center donation that never arrived, Axios first reported.
Zoom in: At the heart of the alleged scheme is a financial transaction involving a private Houston-based defense company's software and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Habba and Mildon's attorneys have told the White House.
- Mildon alleges that at Grenell's direction, Mildon wired $17.6 million to Texas Armament & Technology. He says the money was to be split in roughly two parts: one for the Congo deal and nearly $6 million for the Kennedy Center.
- To back up his claims, Mildon provided the 2025 text that discussed the Kennedy Center donation and Congo "software." In the text to Mildon, the sender also says, "There is an e-mail that was sent to you, can you please take a look at it for me ?"
- That email also was furnished to the White House, as was a May 29, 2025, financial record showing $17.6 million was wired to the company, known by its initials TXAT, sources said.
It would be 17 months before Mildon learned that the Kennedy Center never received the money that he thought was included in the wire he sent at Grenell's direction, Habba told the president.
The intrigue: Here's where the story gets mysterious and murky. It's unclear what the Congo contract was for, how it related to the Kennedy Center or what the financial specifics were.
- The text doesn't mention any financial numbers, either for TXAT or the Kennedy Center. But a source familiar with the situation said that other correspondence furnished to the White House does have financial specifics.
- The financial transaction sent to TXAT didn't appear to come from Mildon's bank account, as Habba initially indicated to Trump.
Instead, the $17.6 million was wired to TXAT from Congo's "Ministère des Finances" in Kinshasa, the capital city, where Mildon has business and access to finances, a White House official said.
- A spokesman for Mildon would not comment. Spokespeople for TXAT and Congo's government couldn't be reached.
- "We're trying to find out whose money this is," the official said.
Complicating the matter further: Habba's numbers kept changing after she first alerted Trump to the alleged theft of the Kennedy Center money.
- At first she said the Kennedy Center contribution was for $17 million.
- Then she said it was about $6 million after talking to Mildon. The exact figure seems to be $5.6 million.
The other side: Grenell, who declined to comment for this article, previously told Axios that the claims against him are "absurd."
- "I've never asked for one cent to be sent somewhere else pretending it was for the Kennedy Center, and I've never received any payment from him at all," he said. "Make him give proof to what he is saying, not make these absurd allegations."
- When told of the text message's exact wording, Grenell hotly denied he sent it because "center" was spelled in British English as "centre," a source briefed on his thinking said.
- Grenell's allies also have questioned everything from Mildon's background as a businessman to his associates, his age (he's 29 but some records indicate he's 25) and his $10 million wedding last month to Habba, 42, whom he began dating last year.
Friction point: As the New York Times examined Mildon's activities in Venezuela, he had a falling out with Grenell, with whom he had been friendly since 2024.
- Mildon met Habba in 2025 at the Kennedy Center.
Inside the room: On Oct. 9, when Habba arrived at the White House, she was "pretty animated," said one administration official, and exclaimed at one point, "Ric stole the money!"
- The problem, however, was that Habba "didn't have all her stuff in order. She went in there half-cocked without all the facts yelling about Grenell stealing. And the facts keep changing," the source said. "That doesn't mean Ric is out of the woods. This looks really shady."
- After Habba leveled her accusations, Trump called White House Counsel Will Scharf into Oval Office and asked him to look into her claims, sources said.
Trump and Scharf then phoned Grenell, who denied everything and said he would have instantly alerted everyone to the idea of a $17 million contribution.
- "There's no way this is true. This is crazy," Grenell told Trump at one point, according to a source briefed on the discussion.
Behind the scenes: Scharf grew skeptical of Habba's claims early last week because she and Mildon's attorneys were initially slow to furnish any records to help his inquiry, said a source. They submitted the documents on Friday.
- Scharf is still gathering evidence and plans to verify the digital footprint of the 2025 text, the source said, noting that a printout of the message has the same image of Grenell that appears on his smartphone contact card display.
- Kennedy Center insiders also have contacted the White House and said they frequently saw Mildon at exclusive events at the facility, indicating he was a big donor. That includes appearances in the vice president's box, next to the president's, a source said.
- "Here's where Alina might be telling the truth: Mildon did get access. So why did he get access? Was he doing business in Congo with Ric? Why so much access if the contribution was never paid?" one of the administration officials asked.
- "There's a lot of questions. And POTUS wants answers."