Top Trump adviser Ric Grenell allegedly outlined a stunning pay-for-influence offer to a Turkish billionaire last year.
According to Media Ite, an explosive Axios report cited a text message received by Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon on May 3, 2025.
In the text, the sender claimed that Mildon would be part of “VIP events” and that he would “get close with the administration, even with POTUS,” once he sent money that would be transferred to the Kennedy Center.
Mildon claimed the texts were sent by Ric Grenell, a special presidential envoy who previously served as acting director of the Kennedy Center.
Mildon is also the spouse of former Trump lawyer and US Attorney Alina Habba.
The exclusive report from Marc Caputo read, “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.”
It added, “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.
A year and a half later, however, Mildon and Habba claim they discovered that the Kennedy Center never received the money. That’s when Habba went directly to Trump and accused Grenell of stealing millions from them.
Shortly after Habba’s scene at the White House, Trump reportedly called White House Counsel Will Scharf into the Oval Office and directed him to look into the matter.
Although the couple claimed the money was never received, Mildon was still given the access he was initially promised in that earlier text message. Kennedy Center sources told Axios that he was spotted at “exclusive” events, which seemed to suggest he was among the administration’s big donors.
It is worth noting that Grenell denied sending the text and has denounced the accusations against him as “lies.”
