{"id":16436,"date":"2025-10-25T17:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T17:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/16436\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T17:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T17:07:11","slug":"deep-pocketed-donor-who-gave-130-million-to-pay-soldiers-is-identified-to-be-billionaire-heir-timothy-mellon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/16436\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep-pocketed donor who gave $130 million to pay soldiers is identified to be billionaire heir Timothy Mellon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon \u2013 scion of the famed American banking family \u2013 is the deep-pocketed donor who <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/24\/us-news\/department-of-war-receives-130-million-from-mystery-donor-to-pay-troops\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gave $130 million to pay US troops<\/a> during the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/23\/us-news\/senate-dems-block-bill-to-pay-federal-workers-during-weeks-long-shutdown\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">government shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The reclusive Mellon was identified as the source of the funds in a Saturday report by The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/11\/us-news\/president-trump-will-make-sure-military-troops-are-paid-if-government-shutdown-lasts-through-missed-check\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">President Trump<\/a>\u00a0announced this week that \u201ca friend\u201d who \u201cloves the military and loves the country\u201d \u2013 but who didn\u2019t want to be identified \u2013\u00a0had given\u00a0the\u00a0funds.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.79980469;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37483324\" width=\"472\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3c3nf5n-timothy-mellon-portrait-american-114162777.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of American businessman Timothy Mellon wearing a suit and patterned tie.\" class=\"wp-image-37483324\"  \/>The wealthy donor who donated $130 million to try to pay US troops during the government shutdown has been revealed to be billionaire heir and businessman Timothy Mellon. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n<p>Trump referenced the\u00a0contribution\u00a0en route to Asia Friday night, calling the request for anonymity \u201cpretty unusual in the world I come from,\u201d\u00a0calling the donor\u00a0a \u201cgreat gentleman\u201d and a \u201cgreat patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The White House declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of War and the Treasury Department, which did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Timothy Mellon could not immediately be reached for comment by The Post.<\/p>\n<p>Mellon, 83, is the grandson of industrialist\u00a0and philanthropist\u00a0Andrew Mellon.\u00a0The family\u00a0is believed to be worth $14 billion,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/profile\/mellon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">according to Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0day after Trump\u2019s 2024\u00a0conviction for fraud in New York,\u00a0Mellon\u00a0donated a stunning $50 million\u00a0to\u00a0the pro-Trump super PAC Make America\u00a0Great Again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He lives in Wyoming, where he has kept a low profile.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37483323\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/united-states-president-donald-j-114002198_d2f64c.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office.\" class=\"wp-image-37483323\"  \/>The Pentagon said that it would accept the donation, and President Trump stated a day earlier that the donation was coming from \u201ca friend.\u201d Aaron Schwartz \u2013 Pool via CNP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Mellon, who served as the nation\u2019s Treasury Secretary\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/about\/history\/prior-secretaries\/andrew-w-mellon-1921-1932\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">from 1921 to 1932<\/a>,\u00a0amassed a fortune in the years leading up to the Great Depression, and ultimately made significant philanthropic contributions to the National Gallery of Art and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon accepted\u00a0his grandson\u2019s\u00a0donation,\u00a0but might not be able to use the funds: the Antideficiency Act bars agencies from spending money that has not been appropriated by Congress during a shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members\u2019 salaries and benefits,\u201d said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate on Thursday voted down an effort to pay active duty members of the military, 54-45.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon \u2013 scion of the famed American banking family \u2013 is the deep-pocketed donor who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3968,153,2564,9,11,10,11712,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-16436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-billionaires","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-government-shutdown","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-troops","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}