A text message allegedly promising paid access to President Donald Trump has landed at the center of the latest civil war rocking the White House, according to an explosive new report from Axios.
The Monday report cited a text message received by Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon on May 3, 2025. In the message, the sender claimed Mildon would be included in “VIP events” and would “get close with the administration, even with POTUS,” once he sent money that would be transferred to the Kennedy Center.
Mildon claims 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 husband of Alina Habba, the former Trump lawyer and U.S. attorney.
According to the exclusive report from Axios’ Marc Caputo, attorneys for Habba and Mildon have told the White House that the heart of the alleged scheme is a financial transaction involving software from a private Houston-based defense company and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mildon alleges that, at Grenell’s direction, he wired $17.6 million to Texas Armament & Technology. According to Mildon, the money was supposed to be divided into roughly two parts, with one portion going toward the Congo deal and nearly $6 million going to the Kennedy Center.
To support his claims, Mildon handed over the 2025 text, which referenced both the Kennedy Center donation and Congo “software.” In the message, the sender also wrote, “There is an e-mail that was sent to you, can you please take a look at it for me ?”
That email was also provided to the White House, sources said, along with a May 29, 2025, financial record showing that $17.6 million was wired to the company, which is known by its initials, TXAT.
But a year and a half later, Mildon and Habba claim they discovered the Kennedy Center never received the money.
That is when Habba went straight to Trump and accused Grenell of stealing millions of dollars from the couple, according to the report.
Shortly after Habba’s scene at the White House, Trump reportedly summoned White House Counsel Will Scharf to the Oval Office and directed him to look into the matter.
The allegations have added fuel to an already bitter feud inside the president’s orbit.
While the couple claims the money never made it to the Kennedy Center, Mildon still received the access he had been promised in the earlier text message. Kennedy Center sources told Axios that Mildon was spotted at “exclusive” events, which appeared to suggest he was among the administration’s major donors.
Grenell, for his part, is firmly pushing back. He has denied sending the text and slammed the accusations against him as “lies.”
The dispute pits two figures from Trump’s world against each other, with millions of dollars, a high-profile cultural institution and a foreign business deal all caught up in the fallout.
[READ MORE: Elon Musk Vows to Give a SpaceX Share to Every Child in America Next Year]
