- The total value of the contribution in question: nearly $6 million, White House sources said, according to Habba.
- A senior administration official warned that “these are just allegations. We don’t know if they are true. It could be a misunderstanding.”
- Another said: “POTUS doesn’t want to deal with this. Of course he’s worried. But if he’s missing money, that’s a very big problem.”
Only a few months agoGrenell was friends with Mildon and Habba. But he was noticeably absent from their $10 million wedding attended by world officials, power brokers and Trump luminaries last month.
- “This is the ultimate MAGA vendetta,” said a global Trump insider with knowledge of the conflict.
Zoom: The dispute arose out of a friendship between Grenell and Mildon, according to sources close to the dispute. The men had common interests in Venezuela in early 2025, immediately after Trump returned to the White House.
- Grenell, as Trump’s special envoy, advocated for normalizing U.S. relations with then-Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
- Mildon, a Turkish national, had extensive Venezuelan business interests that were threatened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s tough pressure campaign against Maduro.
The plot: In the spring of 2025, Grenell persuaded Mildon to include a multimillion-dollar donation to the Kennedy Center in a $17.6 million lump sum payment for a trade deal involving a U.S. company, Habba told the president and White House staff, according to two sources.
- Habba’s lawyers plan to provide the White House with documents – reviewed by Axios – to support its allegations that Grenell solicited a Kennedy Center donation from Mildon to go to a private company in spring 2025.
- “The White House counsel has requested documents and evidence. None have been received so far,” a White House official said.
Grenell qualified the statements from Habba to Trump “Absurd. I have never asked for a penny to be sent anywhere else claiming it was for the Kennedy Center, and I have never received any payment from him. Make him prove his point, don’t make these absurd allegations.”
- When Habba initially made her accusations against Grenell, she said the total amount of the Kennedy Center contribution was $17 million, the sources said. But after learning the details from her husband, she clarified that the amount of the contribution in question was $5.6 million.
- “It’s been difficult to track because the numbers have changed,” the White House official said.
After making his supposed contributionMildon never checked to see if it had been filed. He believed it was credited because he was treated like a VIP donor to the Kennedy Center, where he met Habba in late 2025 before their whirlwind romance and marriage, these sources said.
Point of friction: Mildon and Habba, according to the sources, discovered the problem after their business relationship deteriorated with Grenell, who lost an internal power struggle with Rubio that resulted in Maduro being captured by the United States on Jan. 3 and sent to New York to face narcotics charges.
- In June, Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodriguez, issued an order revoking one of Mildon’s contracts to operate state-owned cement plants in Venezuela, the New York Times reported Monday. A source familiar with the matter told Axios this summer that his action was partly due to incitement from the U.S. government.
- Rodriguez then reversed course, the Times reported, after learning of Mildon’s new relationship with Habba because the Venezuelan leader believed Mildon therefore had Trump’s support.
- Amid The Times’ reporting on Mildon’s contract, Habba discovered that Mildon’s supposed donation had never been made to the Kennedy Center, according to the sources.
Inside the room: Habba then went to the White House last Friday to brief the president on the situation.
- “Alina hit the roof” when her husband told her he didn’t give the money directly to the Kennedy Center, whose records indicate Mildon actually owed a $270,000 donation.
- There is no record of Mildon giving anything close to $5.6 million, officials said. Mildon paid the $270,000 on Tuesday, records show, to the Kennedy Center.
In partial confirmation of Habba’s storyKennedy Center staff reported that late last year there was a search for Mildon’s contribution — then estimated at $6 million — but it could not be found, an official said.
- But Lisa Dale, who then handled the Kennedy Center’s finances, said the only document on her books related to Mildon showed he owed $270,000. “There was nothing about $6 million,” she told Axios. “I would have heard about it.”
Context: Habba and Grenell have their roots in the first Trump administration.
- Grenell served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and then acting director of national intelligence. Habba was Trump’s private attorney and briefly served as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey during that term.
Between the lines: The Kennedy Center is a sore spot for Trump, beset by controversy over his efforts to put his name on the building and fundraising problems.
- If Habba’s allegations about the missing money are true, it could prove particularly infuriating for Trump, who views the center and its fundraising personally.
- Those familiar with the president’s thinking say he particularly disapproves of people who use his name or abuse the positions he has given them. Tuesday’s dismissal of Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle is the latest reminder of this.
- Two That prominent global Trump figures are engaged in such a bitter feud adds to the complexity.
- “No one wants to find themselves between Alina Habba and Ric Grenell going to war,” one official said.
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