Former vice presidential hopeful Nicole Shanahan allegedly offered a reporter for The Washington Post $500,000 in exchange for the names of sources that have been leaking information about her, according to the newspaper.
Shanahan, the 39-year-old San Francisco Bay Area native and environmental lawyer, was informed in June that The Washington Post was working on a lengthy story that included explosive details about her marriage to ex-husband Sergey Brin, according to the paper.
In response, Shanahan “texted an associate who had been contacted” by the journalists working on the piece and suggested “a deal,” the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
As part of the arrangement, the associate said that Shanahan would “pay your friend” — the reporter who contacted the associate — “half a million dollars to be a whistleblower” and out the sources who were spreading what Shanahan claimed was false information about her, according to the paper.
The associate then relayed the offer to a Washington Post reporter, who did not respond, according to the newspaper.
It’s unclear which reporter was offered the alleged deal.
Asked for comment on Wednesday, a Washington Post spokesperson referred The Post back to the story.
Brin, who filed for divorce from Shanahan in January 2022 after learning of an alleged affair she had with Tesla CEO Elon Musk a month prior, was married to Shanahan for five years.
Musk and Shanahan have vehemently denied an affair.
The New York Post has sought comment from Shanahan and Brin.
According to the article, Shanahan told The Washington Post last week that she disputed aspects of the newspaper’s reporting, adding: “I’m so sorry you feel it is appropriate to do this for political motivations. It’s a very sad state our country is in.”
Shanahan, the longtime Democrat who reportedly walked away with more than $1 billion as part of her divorce settlement with Google co-founder Brin, was tapped by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be his running mate before dropping out of the race and throwing their support to former President Donald Trump.
The Washington Post’s Wednesday story quoted several unnamed sources who weighed in on Shanahan’s political transformation from a Silicon Valley Democrat supporter to a fixture at events touting a second Trump term in the White House.
The story features the bylines of four Washington Post journalists — Elizabeth Dwoskin, Ashley Parker, Meryl Kornfield and Aaron Schaffer.
The article also includes salacious details about her marriage to Brin and the strain that the union is alleged to have caused within the tech mogul’s family as well as the impact it had on his relationship with Google co-founder Larry Page.
According to The Washington Post, Page disapproved of Brin’s relationship with Shanahan, which reportedly caused a strain in their friendship to the point where the two Google co-founders stopped speaking.
Shanahan is also reported to have driven a wedge between Brin and his two children from his first marriage to tech entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki.
According to article, Brin and Wojcicki were on amicable terms when they finalized their divorce in 2015.
Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of personal genetics firm 23andMe, learned that Brin had been carrying on an extramarital affair with a younger Google employee, according to the report.
Shanahan then struck up a relationship with Brin just as she was preparing to marry investor Jeremy Kranz, who then moved to annual the marriage just weeks after exchanging wedding vows.
According to the report, Brin began limiting his contacts with Wojcicki, his children and his family after he began his romance with Shanahan.
The Google co-founder is reported to have skipped the rehearsal dinner for his younger brother’s wedding.
Brin is also reported to have “disappeared” from family events such as his daughter’s birthday because he was “very much on the clock” when Shanahan was around, an unidentified individual told The Washington Post.
According to the report, Brin and Shanahan’s relationship began to unravel in the months following their 2018 nuptials.
The two frequently fought over disagreements about work and travel.
The final straw came in late 2021, when Brin learned of her alleged extramarital affair with Musk, according to the report.
Brin’s divorce from Shanahan was finalized in May of last year.
According to The Washington Post, Brin agreed to a divorce settlement that paid Shanahan in excess of $1 billion.
But the tech mogul is said to be unhappy that she used the money to run for vice president.
“Sergey gave her money so that she wasn’t going to do harmful things to him,” a person familiar with Brin’s thinking told the newspaper.
“So now she’s doing harmful things to the country.”
The New York Post has sought comment from Page and Wojcicki.
They both declined to respond to The Washington Post story.
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