--- title: Trump Campaign Gets $50 Million Donation by High-Profile Man description: Timothy Mellon made his donation on May 31, 2024, just one day after Trump was found guilty in the landmark hush-money trial. canonical: https://time.com/6990520/donald-trump-campaign-billionaire-donor-timothy-mellon-federal-filings/ author: Anna Gordon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-06-21T12:44:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:52:17.182Z article:section: Politics og:title: Billionaire Boosts Trump Campaign With $50 Million Donation og:description: Timothy Mellon made his donation on May 31, 2024, just one day after Trump was found guilty in the hush-money trial. og:url: https://time.com/6990520/donald-trump-campaign-billionaire-donor-timothy-mellon-federal-filings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c0277d750a0fec7/698a57f7cabb1d0431e54409/trump-2024-campaign.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Former president Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Racine, Wis. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Billionaire Boosts Trump Campaign With $50 Million Donation twitter:description: Timothy Mellon made his donation on May 31, 2024, just one day after Trump was found guilty in the hush-money trial. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c0277d750a0fec7/698a57f7cabb1d0431e54409/trump-2024-campaign.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Billionaire Boosting Trump's Campaign With a $50 Million Donation > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c5de12a5-9e85-4ca9-a5cd-153f3be35407&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Anna Gordon](https://time.com/author/anna-gordon/) ## Anna Gordon Gordon was a reporter for TIME, based in the London bureau. Jun 21, 2024 12:44 PM UTC  Former U.S. President and current Republican hopeful Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at Racine Festival Park on June 18, 2024. Former U.S. President and current Republican hopeful Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at Racine Festival Park on June 18, 2024. Taylor Glascock—Getty Images by [Anna Gordon](https://time.com/author/anna-gordon/) ## Anna Gordon Gordon was a reporter for TIME, based in the London bureau. Jun 21, 2024 12:44 PM UTC Timothy Mellon, a billionaire who was born into [one of the wealthiest families in the U.S.](https://www.forbes.com/profile/mellon/), has donated $50 million to the Trump campaign super-pac Make America Great Again Inc., [according to federal filings](https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00825851/1791745/sa/ALL) released on Thursday. Mellon’s contribution is now considered to be the largest disclosed individual donation in the 2024 election. Mellon, 81, previously served as the [chairman of Pan AM Systems Inc.](https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/18012489?embedded-checkout=true), a private manufacturing and transportation company. This year, he plans to release a memoir about his experience as chairman, published by Skyhorse Publishing, titled [_panam.captain_](https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510780354/panam-captain/). According to the federal documents, Mellon made his donation on May 31, 2024, just one day after Trump was [found guilty of 34 felonies by a New York state court](https://time.com/6984108/trump-is-now-a-felon/) in a landmark hush-money trial. Mellon has also donated at least $20 million to the campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, [according to the BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce448zzwp2go). TIME has reached out to the Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaigns for comment and further information.  A billboard, pictured here on Feb. 9, 2024, in Michigan, was launched by the Democratic National Committee to highlight how Robert F. Kennedy's Super PAC was reportedly receiving millions from Donald Trump's largest donor, Timothy Mellon. Emily Elconin—Getty Images [According to _Forbes_](https://www.forbes.com/profile/mellon/), Mellon is the great-grandson of Thomas Mellon, an Irish immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1818\. Thomas was a lawyer and judge who invested his money in various real estate projects and banking. By the time of his death, he had amassed a large fortune, which was inherited by his sons. Today, the Mellon family is worth approximately $14.1 billion, making them the 34th richest family in America. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign has also received some hefty donations recently. The Washington _Post_ reported that billionaire Michael [Bloomberg donated $19 million](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/20/mike-bloomberg-biden-20-million-donation-trump/) to the Future Forward or FF PAC, a pro-Biden political action committee. 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