A Promise of 'POTUS' Access and a $17.6 Million Wire: Inside the Grenell Inquiry

It is a single text message, dated 3 May 2025, and it does what few documents in Washington manage: it puts a price on proximity to the president. The White House counsel is now trying to establish whether the man accused of sending it, Ric Grenell, ever sent it at all.

A Promise of 'POTUS' Access and a $17.6 Million Wire: Inside the Grenell Inquiry

Washington, D.C. — Axios published an exclusive on 19 October 2026 describing a text message it reviewed and attributed to Grenell, a top Trump adviser who ran the Kennedy Center until March 2026. Administration officials told the outlet the message is a key piece of evidence in an inquiry President Trump ordered into whether Grenell misappropriated a potential multimillion-dollar donation to the arts institution.

The Text Dated May 3, 2025

According to Axios, the message reads: "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 message allegedly adds: "We need to make you the 'American face' down in V," a reference to Venezuela, and then: "There is an e-mail that was sent to you, can you please take a look at it for me ?" Axios noted that the text carries no dollar figure for either the company or the Kennedy Center, and that other correspondence furnished to the White House does contain financial specifics. The message was supplied by the attorneys of the Turkish businessman it names, reviewed by Axios, and denied by Grenell. Its authenticity has not been independently established.

What Grenell Is Accused Of

Axios described the message as an alleged "pay-for-influence offer": access to "POTUS," "VIP events" and administration officials. Administration officials told the outlet the inquiry turns on whether Grenell "abused the president's trust and misappropriated a potential multimillion-dollar donation to the Kennedy Center, which Grenell led at the time." His resume is part of why the story travels. Grenell is a former US ambassador to Germany, a former acting director of national intelligence, Trump's former special envoy to Venezuela and now his presidential envoy for special missions. He ran the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from February 2025 until March 2026. No charge, indictment or court proceeding has been filed against him.

The Wire and the Redacted Sender

The money is the part that changed shape. Axios reported that the $17.6 million "didn't appear to come from Mildon's bank account, as Habba initially indicated to Trump." Instead, a White House official told the outlet, it was wired from Congo's "Ministère des Finances" in Kinshasa, where the businessman has operations and access to finance. The New York Times reported on 17 October 2026 that the transfer came from a bank account affiliated with the Congolese government, and that documents first given to the White House had the sender's name redacted. A financial record dated 29 May 2025 shows the wire going to Texas Armament & Technology, a Houston-based defence firm known by the initials TXAT. "We're trying to find out whose money this is," a White House official said. The Rio Times reported that the Justice Department's register of foreign agents carries no filing for Mildon, his company Milvest, TXAT, Grenell or Habba. The Congo origin rests on official accounts and on Times reporting, not on any court finding.

A Number That Kept Changing

Habba's figure moved. She first described the Kennedy Center contribution as $17 million, then about $6 million after speaking with Mildon; Axios reported that the exact number "seems to be $5.6 million." Her account, as given to the president and to staff, is that Grenell persuaded Mildon in spring 2025 to fold a Kennedy Center gift into a lump-sum $17.6 million payment for a business deal involving a US company, split roughly between the Congo work and nearly $6 million for the center. The early scepticism inside the White House counsel's office owed something to that drift. One source briefed on the matter put it bluntly: 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 same source added: "That doesn't mean Ric is out of the woods. This looks really shady."

The Donor With a Diplomatic Passport

Turhan Mildon is 29 according to Axios, though some records indicate 25. He married Alina Habba, Trump's former personal attorney and former US attorney for New Jersey, in September 2026; Grenell was notably absent from the wedding. Mildon says he advises Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and holds a Congolese diplomatic passport, a claim Kinshasa has not publicly confirmed. His company Milvest built the Kinshasa Financial Centre, inaugurated by Tshisekedi in December 2023. He held extensive Venezuelan business interests that Secretary of State Marco Rubio's pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro threatened, and Axios reported he had a falling out with Grenell, a friend since 2024. Grenell's allies have questioned his business record, his associates — the outlet cites Alex Saab, who pleaded guilty to a money-laundering scheme involving bribery — and the $10 million wedding. A spokesman for Mildon would not comment.

What the Center's Books Show

Kennedy Center officials said they had no record of "anything close" to $5.6 million, according to Digital Music News. What the books did show was a $270,000 pledge from Mildon, which he paid on 13 October 2026. Lisa Dale, who handled the center's finances at the time, told Axios that the only record in her books connected to Mildon showed he owed that $270,000. Yet people around the institution told the White House something else: that Mildon was a familiar presence at exclusive events, including the vice president's box, next to the president's. An administration official turned that into the question the case now hangs on: "Mildon did get access. So why did he get access?" The venue has been closed since September, with Trump saying the shutdown was temporary and citing building safety, The Telegraph reported. The center is reviewing the pledges and funds and will report to its board, The Daily Beast reported.

The Denial, in Full

Grenell declined to comment for the 19 October article. He has told Axios the allegations 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. Make him give proof to what he is saying, not make these absurd allegations." Confronted with the message's wording, Axios reported, Grenell denied sending it on the ground that "center" appeared as the British "centre," an argument relayed by a source briefed on his thinking. The New York Times reported that Grenell said he had never sent that message or anything to that effect. Three sources otherwise critical of Grenell told the New York Post they doubted Habba's account. One White House official said they were "very skeptical it's true"; another described Grenell as "crooked" while saying the center's current leadership lacks evidence to substantiate the claim; a person close to the White House called him "self-destructive" but not "that dumb."

The Phone the Counsel Wants to Read

The scene in the Oval Office on 9 October 2026 was, by one official's account, "pretty animated." Habba exclaimed at one point: "Ric stole the money!" Trump pulled White House Counsel Will Scharf in and asked him to look into it, then called Grenell with Scharf on the line. Grenell denied everything and said he would have instantly raised a $17 million contribution had one been promised; at another point he told the president: "There's no way this is true. This is crazy." Scharf wants to verify the digital footprint of the 2025 text, and Axios reported that a printout of the message carries the same image of Grenell that appears on his smartphone contact card. The reporting differs on when the supporting documents arrived: Axios says Friday, 16 October; the Times says a lawyer for Mildon sent them on the night of 14 October.

The Live Nation Seat and the Ticketmaster Switch

Separately from the donation, Grenell holds a Live Nation Entertainment board seat, appointed in May 2025 and reaffirmed by shareholders in a June 2026 SEC filing for a term ending at the 2027 annual meeting, TicketNews reported. A June 2026 court disclosure named him among company representatives who took part in settlement-related communications with government officials, alongside chief executive Michael Rapino, Kellyanne Conway and Mike Davis. The Kennedy Center was reported to be preparing to move its ticketing from Tessitura to Ticketmaster, with 19 October 2026 as a target date, The Washington Post reported. The center says it began weighing Ticketmaster in spring 2024, before Grenell arrived. A group of state attorneys general declined to join the government's settlement and won a jury verdict against the company and Ticketmaster in April 2026. In September the American Antitrust Institute asked the court reviewing that settlement to examine whether an undisclosed arrangement shaped it; the group did not assert that one had.

What Is Not Established

No public finding of wrongdoing has been made. No charge, indictment or court proceeding exists against Grenell, and it is not established that $5.6 million was ever donated, that he received it, or that any money was diverted. The purpose of the Congo contract is unknown; Axios called the picture "mysterious and murky." The text's authenticity remains unverified while Scharf works. There is no confirmation that the Ticketmaster switch happened on 19 October, and records conflict on Mildon's age. On all of it, the administration's own caution is the fairest summary: "These are only allegations. We don't know if they're true. This could be a misunderstanding." A second official was blunter about what is at stake: "If there is missing money, this is a big, big problem."

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Axios, The New York Times, New York Post, The Telegraph, TicketNews, Digital Music News, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and Rio Times.