Skip to main content
MAGA ON MAGA

MAGA Blood Feud Exposed in Kennedy Center Cash Scandal

Donald Trump’s former Kennedy Center director is facing explosive allegations from a fellow MAGA member.

Ric Grennell and Alina Habba

Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters

Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the White House counsel to investigate allegations against his former director at the Kennedy Center.

According to a bombshell Axios report, Trump’s former attorney Alina Habba accused former Ambassador Ric Grenell of failing to deposit a multimillion-dollar donation her husband made to the center a year ago.

The report was based on four senior administration officials and three insiders briefed on the matter.

The allegations were reportedly relayed to the president in the Oval Office on Friday, with the donation valued at nearly $6 million, according to Habba, White House sources told Axios.

Ric Grenell with President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center on March 17, 2025.

Ric Grenell with President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center on March 17, 2025.

Photo by Jim Watson / POOL / AFP

A senior administration official emphasized that they were only allegations and that it was unclear whether they were true or a “misunderstanding,” but the allegations appear to expose a feud at the top of the MAGA ranks.

“POTUS doesn’t want to deal with this. Of course, he’s concerned. But if there is missing money, this is a big, big problem,” another official told Axios.

One Trump insider with knowledge of the conflict described the situation between Habba, her husband Turhan Mildon and Grenell as the “ultimate MAGA blood feud.”

The Daily Beast asked Grenell, who serves as a special envoy, to respond to the accusation and whether he has contacted the White House about the report.

“It’s 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,” Grenell told the Daily Beast in an email. “Make him give proof to what he is saying, not make these absurd allegations.”

The Daily Beast has contacted Habba for comment and any proof she plans to provide to back the claim. The White House was also contacted for comment on the investigation.

Alina Habba and Turhan Mildon's wedding at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan.

Alina Habba and Turhan Mildon's wedding at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan. She has now accused Ric Grenell of failing to deposit a nearly $6 million donation from her husband to the Kennedy Center.

Sebastian Gorka DrG, X

The conflict reportedly grew out of the friendship between Mildon and Grenell, who both have interests in Venezuela.

Habba told the president and White House staff that Grenell convinced the Turkish businessman to include the donation in a lump-sum $17.6 million payment for a business deal, Axios reported.

Habba’s attorneys plan to give the White House documentation, reviewed by Axios, that supports her allegation that Grenell solicited the donation from Mildon to go to a private company in spring 2025.

US President Donald Trump shaking hands with Alina Habba in the Oval Office on Friday, March 28, 2025.

Habba, pictured here with Trump in March 2025, brought her allegations to the president on Friday, Axios reported.

The Washington Post/The Washington Post, Getty Images

However, a White House official told Axios that while counsel has asked for documentation and proof, it has not received any so far.

Apparently, Mildon never checked whether the $5.6 million check was deposited, but he believed it was credited after receiving VIP donor-like treatment at the Kennedy Center, where he met Habba in 2025, sources told Axios.

Late last year, there was a search for the donation, Kennedy Center staffers reported, but it couldn’t be found, according to an official. The only record showed that Mildon owed $270,000. Axios reported that Mildon paid the Kennedy Center that sum on Tuesday.

Ric Grenell, pictured at the Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception in December, served as the director of the performing arts center from February 2025 to March 2026. He called the accusation a lie.

Ric Grenell, pictured at the Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception in December, served as the director of the performing arts center from February 2025 to March 2026. He called the accusation a lie.

Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Grenell, who served as director of the Kennedy Center for just over a year until this March, did not attend Habba’s lavish wedding to Mildon, a 29-year-old Turkish businessman, earlier this month, which multiple top administration officials attended.

Meanwhile, the Kennedy Center’s main building has remained closed since mid-September for renovations to fix what Trump-appointed director Matt Floca has described as dangerous conditions.

This comes amid an ongoing legal dispute over the president’s demand that the Center remain closed for two years while the $250 million overhaul, funded by Congress, takes place.

But Trump has since insisted that his name be added once again to the performing arts center and memorial to assassinated President John F. Kennedy, or the renovations won’t take place. He has even threatened to tear down the institution if he doesn’t get his way.

Play Video

Sign in or create an account

Login dialog

Loading comments…

TRENDING NOW