Congo Payment Dispute Divides Trump Allies Grenell and Habba Mildon
A $17 million transfer from a Congo government account to a Texas defense firm is at the center of diverging accounts given to the White House by Trump allies Richard Grenell and Alina Habba Mildon, according to The New York Times. The White House inquiry has focused on the competing descriptions of the payment. The case turns on who directed the wire and when the decision was made.
Habba told the White House that her husband, Turhan Mildon, made the payment at Grenell's direction in May 2025, according to The Daily Beast. An administration official said Grenell convinced Mildon in early 2025 to make a wire transfer described as $17.6 million, according to The New York Post. Both versions identify Mildon as the person who sent the funds.
The recipient was TX-AT, a Texas company described as a defense and security equipment firm, according to The New York Times. A message submitted to the White House purportedly shows Grenell offering to make Mildon the "American face down in V", according to The Daily Beast.
At the time, Grenell was working as Donald Trump's special envoy to Venezuela and trying to broker Nicolas Maduro's exit from power, according to The New York Times. He had previously served as executive director of the Kennedy Center, according to Yahoo News.
Grenell denied the accusations about the payment as "absurd" and a "lie", according to Axios. Through a spokesperson, Habba and her husband declined to comment, according to the same report.
