US President Donald Trump speaks arsenic helium meets with the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte successful the Oval Office of the White House successful Washington, DC, connected Oct. 22, 2025.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
A enigma donor whose $130 cardinal is meant to wage U.S. subject during the government shutdown is Timothy Mellon, an heir to a renowned Gilded Age family, The New York Times reported Saturday, citing 2 radical acquainted with the matter.
But Mellon's donation works retired to lone astir $100 per work member. And the donation mightiness tally afoul of the law, the Times noted.
When President Donald Trump announced the donation astatine the White House connected Thursday, helium did not sanction the idiosyncratic who had provided the cash, lone describing the idiosyncratic arsenic a "patriot" and "friend of mine."
Mellon's publication was aimed astatine helping to screen the outgo of U.S. subject troops' salaries and benefits portion the authorities shutdown wears on.
The donation mightiness person violated the Antideficiency Act, which bars national agencies from spending funds that person not been appropriated by Congress, according to the Times.
Mellon's acquisition is besides improbable to spell acold successful offsetting the outgo of subject pay.
There are more than 1.3 cardinal troops successful the active-duty military, and the Trump administration's 2025 fund included a petition of astir $600 cardinal successful subject compensation, the Times reported.
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