UNCONFIRMED (Axios is the only outlet to have seen the text; its authenticity has not been established). Axios reported on October 19, 2026 that it reviewed a text dated May 3, 2025, allegedly sent by Ric Grenell, then the Trump-appointed head of the Kennedy Center and special envoy to Venezuela, to Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon: “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 same text allegedly said, “We need to make you the 'American face' down in V.” Grenell denies sending it: “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.”
Mildon, who is married to Trump adviser and former New Jersey U.S. attorney Alina Habba, alleges that at Grenell's direction he wired $17.6 million to Texas Armament & Technology, a Houston defense firm, with nearly $6 million meant for the Kennedy Center, Axios reported; the New York Times reported that the money came from an account affiliated with Congo's government, and a White House official told Axios the wire came from Congo's “Ministère des Finances.” Habba confronted Trump in the Oval Office on October 9, and Trump asked White House Counsel Will Scharf to look into it; Scharf “plans to verify the digital footprint” of the text, Axios reported.
There are reasons for doubt on both sides. Habba's figures changed, from $17 million to about $6 million, and the New York Post quoted a White House official as “very skeptical”; the Post also reported that Kennedy Center records showed a $270,000 pledge from Mildon that was paid. See Trump Loyalist Grenell Resigns from Kennedy Center After Mass Artist Exodus and Plummeting Ticket Sales.