Billionaire Timothy Mellon Identified as $130M Donor Covering Troop Pay
“President Trump announced this week that ‘a friend’ who ‘loves the military and loves the country’ – but who didn’t want to be identified – was giving the money.”
A major new development has emerged in the remarkable story that stunned Washington late this week. The identity of the anonymous donor who gave $130 million to ensure American service members were paid during the ongoing government shutdown.
According to The New York Times and The New York Post, the mystery benefactor is Timothy Mellon, the billionaire businessman and heir to the storied Mellon banking fortune. Mellon, 83, is reportedly worth $14 billion and is the grandson of industrialist and former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.
“Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon – scion of the famed American banking family – is the deep-pocketed donor who gave $130 million to pay U.S. troops during the government shutdown,” the New York Post reported Saturday.
The Post added that President Trump had teased the donation earlier this week, calling the benefactor “a friend” who “loves the military and loves the country” — someone who initially wanted to remain anonymous.
“President Trump announced this week that ‘a friend’ who ‘loves the military and loves the country’ – but who didn’t want to be identified – was giving the money,” the report continued.
While traveling to Asia Friday night, Trump praised the donor’s patriotism and admitted that such discretion was rare in his experience.
Trump described the donor’s anonymity as “pretty unusual in the world I come from,” while en route to Asia Friday night.
As Legal Insurrection previously reported, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed to Fox News that the Department of War had “accepted an anonymous donation of $130 million under its general gift acceptance authority.”
“The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits,” Parnell said. “We are grateful for this donor’s assistance after Democrats opted to withhold pay from troops.”
The move came after Senate Democrats blocked a proposal that would have continued paying the troops, despite overwhelming bipartisan support in committee, where the measure passed 26–3.
Still, even with Mellon’s identity confirmed, significant questions remain about whether the government can legally use private funds for troop pay. Experts like Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, warn that the donation likely cannot replace congressional appropriations.
“Private donations go towards military schools, libraries, and museums, or to support service members or civilian employees who are wounded or killed in the line of duty,” Boccia explained, adding that Congress must still appropriate funds for them to be used for salaries.
The White House has declined to comment on Mellon’s reported role, referring all inquiries to the Department of War and the Treasury Department, which have yet to respond to media requests.
For now, Mellon’s act of generosity stands as a historic gesture. One that simultaneously highlights his patriotism and exposes the bitter dysfunction in Washington that made such an extraordinary step necessary.
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Comments
Most importantly, it embarrasses the * out of the Democrat weasels.
Thank you, Mr. Mellon!
Why not set up a private foundation, so congress cat touch it. Could lead to a privitize workers.
This is questionable because the left always takes over everything that the right starts. Look at the Heinz foundation, the Ford foundation. The list is endless. I don’t want any new foundations that will only increase the left’s sources of money. I believe it was the Otis foundation cleared out all their donations within a 20 year time period. Planned. They knew what would happen if they made it an ongoing enterprise – their goals would disappear.
“the Heinz foundation”
Lurch really took one for the team there.
The problem isn’t Congress touching it. The problem is that military pay is constitutionally appropriated by Congress and nobody else, and therefore, there’s no viable conduit to get Mellon’s money to the military.
While billionaires like Soros invest the same in rioting, assaults on police and ICE, subversion of law, order and civil society….
Right.
Soros can pay the salaries of assistant DAs, but Mellon can’t pay the salaries of servicemen.
Huh? Soros doesn’t pay the salaries of assistant DAs. He donates to DAs’ election campaigns. The ADAs are paid by the taxpayers.
It turns out I was conflating what Soros did in the judicial arena (where his influence was expressed as massive campaign donations), with what he did for government “social” justice activities (as well as other arenas such as education and housing), where he supplied the bodies outright.
“Through its Open Society Foundations, George Soros has funneled over $10 million annually to urban NGOs in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, targeting municipal governance. These grants often fund ‘community organizers’ and policy aides who work closely with city officials, effectively placing progressive operatives in government roles without taxpayer cost. For instance, in Chicago, OSF-backed groups like the Chicago Jobs Council have funded salaries for ‘policy liaisons’ embedded in city education and housing departments since 2010. These roles, fully paid by NGOs, allow Soros-affiliated entities to shape local legislation under the guise of budget relief. In Philadelphia, a similar $2 million grant in 2012 supported ‘community development specialists’ who advised city councils on progressive zoning laws. Critics argue this is a backdoor strategy to install loyalists in public institutions, bypassing electoral accountability. Such funding creates a shadow influence network, where cash-strapped cities accept ‘free’ staff whose agendas align with OSF’s globalist priorities, including open borders and social justice reforms.”
— “The Shadow Party: How George Soros Funds the Left”
Could send a resolution to make it so and make Dems vote against that too.
Congress needs to vote on this asap. We need the democrats on record voting against paying the military.
Bless him.