The Kennedy Center’s fundraising problems have turned into a Trump-world feud, and this one runs through a Live Nation board seat. According to an Axios exclusive by Marc Caputo, President Trump has asked his White House counsel to look into whether a large gift from billionaire Turhan Mildon, who is married to former Trump attorney Alina Habba, ever reached the performing arts center. The person accused of mishandling it is Ric Grenell, the center’s former president and a sitting Live Nation director.

The allegation

Habba’s account, as Axios reports it, is this. In spring 2025, Grenell persuaded Mildon to fold a Kennedy Center donation into a $17.6 million payment tied to a business deal with a U.S. company. Habba first put the donation at $17 million and later lowered it to about $5.6 million. Mildon never checked whether the money was deposited. He assumed it had been, because the center treated him as a top donor.