Former vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan allegedly offered a Washington Post reporter $500,000 in exchange for the names of sources who leaked information about her, the paper said.
Shanahan, 39, an environmental lawyer from the San Francisco Bay Area, is writing a lengthy article for The Washington Post that will include explosive details about her marriage to ex-husband Sergey Brin, the paper said. It is said that he was informed on the moon.
Accordingly, Shanahan “sent a text message to the employee who had been contacted.” The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that journalists writing the story proposed an “agreement.”
As part of the deal, the coworker said Shanahan would “pay $500,000 in whistleblowing fees” to “your friend,” a reporter who contacted the coworker and claimed Shanahan gave false information about her. He said he would eliminate the sources who were spreading the information. According to the paper.
The colleague then informed a Washington Post reporter of the offer, but the reporter did not respond, the paper said.
It is unclear which reporter was approached about the alleged transaction.
Reached for comment Wednesday, a Washington Post spokesperson said the paper referred to the article.
Brin filed for divorce from Shanahan in January 2022 after learning of her alleged affair with Tesla CEO Elon Musk a month earlier, and they had been married for five years.
Musk and Shanahan have strongly denied having an affair.
The New York Post has reached out to Shanahan and Brin for comment.
According to the article, Shanahan told The Washington Post last week that he disputed aspects of the paper's reporting, adding, “It's very unfortunate that they feel it's appropriate to do this politically motivated.” . It is a very sad situation that our country is in. ”
Shanahan, a longtime Democrat who reportedly walked away with more than $1 billion as part of her divorce settlement with Google co-founder Brin, withdrew from the race after being nominated as his running mate by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I retreated and threw it away. Support for former President Donald Trump.
A Washington Post article on Wednesday cited multiple anonymous sources who discussed Mr. Shanahan's political transition from being a Silicon Valley Democratic supporter to a fixture at events touting President Trump's second term. .
The article is signed by Washington Post journalists Elizabeth Dwoskin, Ashley Parker, Meryl Kornfield, and Aaron Schaefer.
The article also includes sordid details about her and Brin's marriage, the tensions it allegedly caused within tech mogul Brin's family, and the tensions it caused with Google co-founder Larry Page. The influence it had on the relationship was also mentioned.
According to the Washington Post, Mr. Page expressed dissatisfaction with the relationship between Mr. Brin and Mr. Shanahan, which caused a rift in their friendship to the point where the two Google co-founders stopped speaking. It has been reported.
Shanahan also reportedly drove a wedge between Brin and his two children from his first marriage to technology entrepreneur Ann Wojcicki.
According to the article, Bryn and Wojcicki were on friendly terms when their divorce was finalized in 2015.
According to the report, Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of personal genetics company 23andMe, learned that Brin had been having an affair with a junior Google employee.
Shanahan then hooked up with Bryn just as she was preparing to marry investor Jeremy Krantz, and they tied the knot just weeks after exchanging vows.
The report said Blinn began restricting her contact with Wojcicki, their children and family after her romance with Shanahan began.
The Google co-founder reportedly skipped the rehearsal dinner for his brother's wedding.
An unidentified person told The Washington Post that Blinn was “very alarmed” while Shanahan was present and “disappeared” from family events, including her daughter's birthday. It is also reported that.
According to reports, Brynn and Shanahan's relationship began to fray within months of their 2018 wedding.
The two often fought over disagreements about work and travel.
According to reports, the last crisis occurred in late 2021 when Brin learned of an alleged affair with Musk.
Brynn and Shanahan's divorce was finalized last May.
According to the Washington Post, Ms. Brin has agreed to a divorce settlement that will pay Ms. Shanahan more than $1 billion.
However, the tech mogul is said to be unhappy that she used the money to run for vice president.
“Sergei gave her the money to ensure that she would not do anything harmful to him,” said a person familiar with Brin's thinking.
“So she's doing something harmful to the country right now.”
The New York Post has reached out to Page and Wojcicki for comment.
Both men declined to respond to the Washington Post article.
