White House Counsel Examines Habba-Grenell Feud Over Alleged Kennedy Center Donation

A bitter dispute between two longtime allies of President Donald Trump has spilled into public view, with the White House counsel’s office reviewing allegations that special presidential envoy Ric Grenell promised a foreign businessman access to the president in connection with a multimillion-dollar Kennedy Center donation that never arrived.

Axios first reported last week that Alina Habba, the president’s former attorney and former acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, went to the Oval Office on Oct. 9 and accused Grenell, who led the Kennedy Center at the time of the alleged donation, of misleading her husband, Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon. Trump directed the White House counsel to look into the matter, according to Axios.

The Allegations

According to Axios, Mildon alleges that at Grenell’s direction he wired $17.6 million in 2025 to a Houston-area defense company, Texas Armament & Technology, with part tied to a software deal involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and about $5.6 million meant for the Kennedy Center. On Monday, Axios reported on a May 3, 2025, text message, provided to the White House by Mildon’s attorneys, in which the sender says that once the money arrives he will arrange a Kennedy Center donation and that Mildon will join “VIP events” and “get close with the administration, even with POTUS.”

Grenell has denied sending the text and called the allegations lies. “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 told Axios, calling on Mildon to provide proof.

Questions on Both Sides

The accounts contain inconsistencies that officials have acknowledged. Habba initially put the donation at $17 million before revising it to $5.6 million, according to Axios, and a White House official told the outlet that the numbers have shifted. A White House official also told Axios that the wire to the company originated from Congo’s finance ministry in Kinshasa rather than from Mildon personally, New York magazine reported, summarizing Axios. Lisa Dale, who oversaw Kennedy Center finances at the time, told Axios she saw a record of an outstanding $270,000 pledge from Mildon but nothing about $6 million.

Senior administration officials have urged caution. “These are only allegations. We don’t know if they’re true. This could be a misunderstanding,” one official told Axios. Another said that if money is in fact missing, “this is a big, big problem.”

Grenell, a former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, also served as special envoy for Venezuela, where Mildon has business interests. Representatives for Texas Armament & Technology and the Congolese government could not be reached by Axios. No charges or formal findings have been announced, and the White House counsel’s review remains ongoing.

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