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The anonymous donor who gave $130 million to the Pentagon to pay troops during the government shutdown has been identified as Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and major donor to the president Donald Trumpsays one report.
Trump announced the donation on Thursday but refused to reveal the identity of the donor, describing him only as a “patriot” and friend. The president again declined to name the person on Friday as he spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after leaving Washington for Asia, calling the donor “a great American citizen” and a “significant man.”
“He doesn’t want any publicity,” Trump said Friday. “He doesn’t want his name used, which is quite unusual in the world I come from, and in the world of politics you want his name mentioned.”
But the two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times that the man was Mellon, a wealthy bank heir and railroad magnate.
MYSTERY TRUMP ALLY donates $130 million to cover troops’ paychecks amid shutdown chaos
The anonymous donor who gave $130 million to the Pentagon to pay troops during the government shutdown has been identified as Timothy Mellon. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
It remains unclear how long the donation will cover the troops’ salaries. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Trump administration’s 2025 budget called for total military compensation of about $600 billion.
The $130 million donation would equate to about $100 per military member The New York Times.
Mellon, a grandson of former Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, is a Trump supporters who has donated tens of millions of dollars to groups supporting the president’s 2024 campaign. Last year, he donated $50 million to a super PAC supporting Trump, among the largest single donations ever made public, the newspaper noted.
President Donald Trump declined to reveal the identity of the donor. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The billionaire was not a prominent Republican donor until Trump’s first election, but has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to support the president and the Republican Party in recent years.
He is also a significant supporter of the Health and Human Services Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr.who also ran for president in 2024, first as a Democrat and later as an independent, before dropping out to support Trump. According to the New York Times, Mellon donated millions to Kennedy’s presidential campaign and also donated money to the secretary’s anti-vaccination organization, Children’s Health Defense.
Despite his political involvement, Mellon has tried to keep a low profile.
The Pentagon said it accepted the donation under the “general gift acceptance authority.” (Reuters)
In an autobiography published in 2015, Mellon described himself as a former liberal who moved from Connecticut to Wyoming because of lower taxes and fewer people.
The Pentagon said it accepted the donation under the “general gift acceptance authority.”
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“The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of salaries and benefits for service members,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The New York Times.
But the donation could be a potential violation of the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending money beyond what Congress appropriates or accepting volunteer services.
