President Trump has directed his White House counsel to examine explosive allegations dropped on him Friday in the Oval Office, Axios' Marc Caputo reports exclusively.

Former Trump attorney Alina Habba told the president that another one of his top advisers — former Kennedy Center leader Ric Grenell — failed to deposit a multimillion-dollar donation that her billionaire husband made to the center a year ago, according to four senior administration officials and three insiders briefed on the controversy.

• The total value of the contribution was nearly $6 million, White House sources said Habba told them.

Grenell denied the accusations as "absurd" and a "lie."

• Grenell told Axios: "I've never asked for 1 cent to be sent somewhere else pretending it was for the Kennedy Center, and I've never received any payment from him at all. Make him give proof to what he is saying, not make these absurd allegations."
• Habba and her husband, Turhan Mildon, declined to comment through a spokesperson.

Habba's attorneys plan to give the White House documentation — reviewed by Axios — to support her allegations.

• A White House official said: "The White House counsel has asked for documents and proof. None has come so far."

A senior administration official cautioned that "these are only allegations. We don't know if they're true. This could be a misunderstanding."

• Said another: "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."

The intrigue: Just a few months ago, Grenell was friends with Mildon and Habba. But he was notably absent from their $10 million wedding that was attended by Trump world officials, power brokers and luminaries last month.

• One Trump world insider with knowledge of the conflict said: "This is the ultimate MAGA blood feud."

Keep reading.

Texas Democrats are for the first time polling slightly ahead of Republicans in several big statewide races, Axios Austin's Nicole Cobler writes from a new University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll.

By the numbers: Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico maintains a slim lead (50%-47%) over Republican Ken Paxton.

• In the governor's race, Democrat Gina Hinojosa leads Republican incumbent Greg Abbott 49% to 48%.
• For lieutenant governor, Democrat Vikki Goodwin leads Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick 49% to 46%.
• Democrat Nathan Johnson leads Republican Mayes Middleton 48% to 47% in the attorney general's race.

✅ Reality check: All of these results are within the margin of error.

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Hollywood Burbank Airport's new $1.3 billion terminal is open after nearly three years of work.

• The upgrades could solidify Burbank — BUR, in airport code-speak — as a viable, chiller alternative to the chaos that is nearby LAX. (Still, it only has 14 gates to LAX's 161.)

The L.A. Times reports from yesterday's opening morning: "Instead of the snug, historic facility whose Spanish Colonial Revival style dated to 1930, travelers found themselves in a sleek terminal at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way, distinguished by high ceilings, contemporary art, twinkling terrazzo floors, abundant charging stations and landscaping full of cactus and succulents, along with a few 'wet paint' signs."

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