Donald Trump told his top lawyer to 'figure it out, and come back to me ASAP.'
Nearly three weeks later, the White House is questioning the key evidence against Ric Grenell, the former Kennedy Center boss, and has parked its verdict until after the midterms.
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House → tell → midterms
Alina Habba, Trump's former personal lawyer, accused Grenell of failing to pass on $5.6 million her husband says he donated to the Washington arts center.
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he → accuse → center
Grenell denies it.
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Grenell → deny → it
Habba made the accusation in person in the Oval Office on October 9, and the president summoned White House counsel Will Scharf into the room and phoned Grenell on the spot.
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president → make → spot
Her case rests largely on a text message that her billionaire husband, Turhan Mildon, says Grenell sent him on May 3, 2025.
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Grenell → rest → May
'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 text reads.
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text → come → POTUS
The message also asks Mildon to look at 'an e-mail that was sent to you.'
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that → ask → you
The White House is now questioning whether the text is genuine, the Daily Mail can reveal.
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Mail → question → ?
Mildon, 29, and Habba, 42, met at the Kennedy Center last year and married at New York's Waldorf Astoria last month in a $10 million ceremony
Richard Grenell speaks during a Kennedy Center Board dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2025
'There are questions about the authenticity of that text message,' a White House official said.
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official → meet → message
'The way that "e-mail" and "centre" are written, call into question the authenticity of that,' the official said.
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official → write → that
'It's not a typical way an American would write that.
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American → write → that
'
'Centre' is the British spelling, and the hyphenated 'e-mail' has fallen out of favor in the US but remains standard in several European languages
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mail → hyphenate → languages
A fabricated text would be 'a huge problem for the Alina side and helpful to Ric,' a second White House official said.
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official → fabricate → Ric
But the doubts over the text do not 'necessarily absolve Ric of anything,' the official added.
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official → absolve → anything
'It's a f***ing car crash for both of them,' the official said of Habba and Grenell.
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official → say → Habba
Both officials stressed the White House had not reached a conclusion.
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House → stress → conclusion
'We don't know for sure if the text was or wasn't sent by him,' the second official said.
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official → know → him
White House counsel has asked Habba's lawyers to prove the message came from Grenell's phone.
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message → ask → phone
'Nothing has been sent as of yet,' the second official said.
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official → send → ?
A source close to Habba disputed that, saying her attorneys had been communicating with the White House and had given Trump's team everything they needed, with no requests or information outstanding.
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they → dispute → requests
Grenell's lawyers said they would carry out a forensic audit of his phone to prove the text did not come from him, but it had not been provided as of Monday night, the second official said.
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official → say → night
The aim is to stop the feud becoming 'a distraction' in the final week of the campaign, the second official said.
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official → stop → campaign
Donald Trump sits at the Resolute Desk.
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Trump → sit → Desk
'Take this seriously, figure it out, and come back to me ASAP,' Trump told White House counsel Will Scharf in the Oval Office
Mildon has told the White House, through his lawyers, that he wired $17.6 million to Houston defense firm Texas Armament & Technology, known as TXAT, on Grenell's instructions in May 2025, Axios reported.
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Axios → take → May
Habba has said her husband believed $5.6 million of it would go to the Kennedy Center, the New York Times reported.
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Times → say → Center
Grenell has said he consulted for TXAT in 2024 but had no link to the firm when the money was sent, the outlet reported.
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outlet → say → firm
Habba first told Trump the money came from Mildon's own bank account, but it was wired from Congo's finance ministry in Kinshasa, a White House official told Axios.
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official → tell → Axios
Her figures also shifted: she initially put the Kennedy Center gift at $17 million, then about $6 million after speaking to her husband, Axios reported.
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Axios → shift → husband
Kennedy Center records show no donation from Mildon anywhere near that size, the Daily Mail revealed.
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Mail → show → size
He paid an outstanding $270,000 pledge on October 13, after the New York Times asked why he never had.
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he → pay → October
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 previously told the Daily Mail.
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Grenell → ask → Mail
'Make [Mildon] give proof to what he is claiming he gave,' he added.
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he → make → what
Grenell, 60, a former acting director of national intelligence, ran the Kennedy Center from February 2025 until he stepped down in March.
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he → run → March
He and Habba, 42, met at the Kennedy Center and married at New York’s Waldorf Astoria last month in a $10 million ceremony.
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He → meet → ceremony
Grenell, once a friend of the couple, did not attend.
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Grenell → attend → couple
Habba, Grenell and Mildon declined to comment further when contacted by the Daily Mail on Monday.
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Habba → decline → Monday
The Aporia
