Lifting the Veil on Trump's Biggest Donor

Timothy Mellon has the unique claim to being the single biggest backer of two rival presidential candidates in the same race, reports the New York Times. The 81-year-old has pumped $75 million into Donald Trump's campaign and $25 million into Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s. But despite his willingness to offer up the big bucks, relatively little is known about Mellon, who often surprises campaigns with record funding. The Times describes him as a "reclusive heir" to the Mellon industrial fortune as it attempts to peel back some of the mystery behind who he is and what may be motivating him. Some highlights of what they uncovered through interviews, his own memoir, and court filings:

• The rock incident: The story begins by painting Mellon with some "get off my lawn" energy, describing an incident involving the Narragansett Runestone, a Rhode Island rock with historical interest. The 7-foot stone was suddenly removed by the edge of his waterfront estate (though it was on the state-owned side), where people often gathered to view it. After a criminal investigation, Mellon returned the stone but received no repercussions other than the reputation of a NIMBY.
• He's quick to sue: The Times notes several lawsuits Mellon was involved in, but delves into his case against a company he ponied up $1 million for to tag along on their Amelia Earhart expedition. He claimed the company had found her plane (and insisted he saw her severed head in a plastic bag on footage), but was hiding it so they could continue to raise more cash for future voyages. After losing in court, he appealed and lost again.
• His funding turned a hard right: "His views were somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun," recalled Ric Gillespie, who got to know Mellon on the Earhart trip. But the magnate's views weren't always conservative. One of his first political contributions was to Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy, and he favored some liberal causes in his youth. As he grew more conservative, his support was more casual, but by 2010, he donated $1.5 million to help Arizona Gov. Janet Brewer defend a harsh immigration enforcement law.

Read the full profile. (More Timothy Mellon stories.)