▶ Watch Video: Military families face paycheck uncertainty amid shutdown

Last week, President Trump announced an anonymous “patriot” had given a donation of $130 million — money the president said was to be used to help pay troops during the government shutdown .

There are questions about the legality of a donation of this sort (the Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from exceeding congressional appropriations or accepting voluntary services). Over the weekend, The New York Times identified the anonymous donor as Timothy Mellon, a reclusive railroad magnate and heir to the Gilded Age Mellon family fortune.

Mellon, 83, emerged as one of the top Republican donors only in the past few years, giving far less in the decades before 2017.

Anna Massoglia, a campaign finance rese

See Full Page