By John Pollock & Brandon Thurston
Janel Grant is represented by public relations firm, The Agency Group, or TAG. Carolina Hurley is one agent prominently working with Grant during her sex trafficking lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis.
Hurley formerly worked in the White House during Donald Trump’s presidential administration as part of the White House Communications Office, POST Wrestling and Wrestlenomics has learned.
Hurley has worked with Grant throughout the lawsuit, which was filed on January 25.
Trump has been connected with the McMahon family since the 1980s, through the present.
We confirmed Hurley’s work history with the Trump administration was known to Grant and her attorney Ann Callis before Hurley began representing Grant.
“Carolina disclosed the Trump connection before we hired TAG,” Callis wrote to us by email in a statement in which she expressed her support for Hurley. “Our team had confidence that her team, comprised of competent and experienced women, led by a woman with a stellar resumé was the optimum way to assist Janel in getting her message across while dispelling all of the negative onslaught that we knew was coming her way.”
While it’s not unusual for PR firms to handle a wide variety of clients, TAG also works with PRIME Energy. The energy drink brand associated with Logan Paul announced a sponsorship with WWE in March for PRIME’s logo to appear on WWE’s ring canvas during premium live events.
Trump’s friendship with McMahon is still active, according to a report from NBC News last month. Trump and McMahon are regularly in touch, according to the report, but it’s not clear what they’ve been discussing. However, a McMahon spokesperson denied to NBC News that McMahon and Trump have been in recent contact.
Vince McMahon’s wife, Linda McMahon continues to be involved in Trump’s political activities and also sits on the Board of Directors for the parent company of Trump’s social media business, Truth Social, according to SEC filings.
Hurley was never a part of Trump’s political campaigns, according to a person familiar with her work history. During her tenure at the White House from 2017 to early 2021, she reported to the White House Communications Director, a position held by many individuals during that time, including Sean Spicer, Hope Hicks, Bill Shine, Stephanie Grisham, and others. She worked on many of Ivanka Trump’s initiatives, including activities to combat human trafficking.
Linda McMahon is a significant contributor to numerous political campaigns, including those associated with Trump. In March, she gave $5 million to Trump’s Super PAC, Make America Great Again, according to Federal Election Commission public records. Linda now also serves as the Chair for the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank that promotes Trump’s political policies.
Linda was a leading executive with WWE until 2009.
She served in Trump’s cabinet as the leader of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019.
Trump and the McMahon family prominently worked together in 1988 and 1989, when Trump’s venues in Atlantic City hosted WrestleMania during those years.
Later, Trump participated in onscreen storylines with Vince McMahon in WWE in 2007 and 2009. Memorably, McMahon and Trump cornered opposing wrestlers at WrestleMania 23 in 2007. McMahon had his head shaved as a result of his wrestler, Umaga, losing the match to Trump’s wrestler, Bobby Lashley.
Trump returned to WWE television in 2009 for two episodes of Monday Night Raw. In a fictional storyline, he bought the flagship Monday night program and sold it back to McMahon at a profit. He was later inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
McMahon paid Trump for the 2007 and 2009 appearances at least partly through giving money to the Trump Foundation.
In 2022, WWE investigated multiple nondisclosure agreements Vince McMahon made with women he employed. He agreed to pay a total of $14.6 million to four different women, including Grant, who formerly worked for WWE and had allegations of sexual misconduct against him or Laurinaitis. The investigation also uncovered that $5 million in payments made to the Trump Foundation, like the payments for NDAs, should have been accounted for in WWE’s financial statements, and caused WWE to correct its financial reporting with the SEC.
McMahon’s public relations representative is Michael Sitrick from Sitrick And Company, which we reported in April. McMahon’s attorney in the Grant lawsuit is Jessica T. Rosenberg, from the Kasowitz Benson Torres firm.
Grant agreed to put her lawsuit on hold earlier today at the request of the Justice Department. An Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Southern District of New York was added with a notice of appearance in the case today. The Southern District of New York is reportedly leading an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct involving McMahon.
