“Reclusive” Trump Mega-Donor Has Deep Ties to Rhode Island
GoLocalProv News Team
“Reclusive” Trump Mega-Donor Has Deep Ties to Rhode Island
As The Times reported on Sunday, Timothy Mellon is the “Pedigreed Rail Magnate Is Pouring Millions Into Electing Donald Trump.”
“Mellon, a reclusive heir to a storied fortune, is spending tens of millions to elect Donald J. Trump,” reported The Times. “Precisely what he wants in return is one of many curiosities surrounding him.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMellon’s Rhode Island ties are front and center in The Times feature.
He and his family have called the Projac Point section on North Kingstown home in an estate estimated to be worth upwards of $6 million.
“To his neighbors in a Rhode Island beachfront enclave, he is better known as the prime suspect in the Narragansett Runestone Affair,” reported The Times’ Alexandra Berzon and Mike McIntire, who wrote the following of the local battle:
A hulking boulder once positioned just offshore in Narragansett Bay, the runestone bears inscriptions that some believe were left by Viking explorers. It was the stuff of local lore and attracted visitors at low tide — to the consternation of Mr. Mellon, the pedigreed businessman whose home looked out on the rock.
And then one day it was gone.
A criminal investigation yielded a witness who had heard sounds of heavy machinery at night. Mr. Mellon refused to talk and hired a former state attorney general as his lawyer. Nearly a year later, the matter was resolved quietly: Mr. Mellon agreed to return the stone, and prosecutors agreed not to bring charges.
Politics in Spotlight
Now — Mellons’s political donations are in the national spotlight.
“The episode was a rare glimpse into the private life and the public dealings of Mr. Mellon, 81, a reclusive heir and railroad magnate who has recently turned himself into a political force,” reported The Times. “He has surprised even political insiders with the size of his contributions this year, throwing $75 million behind Mr. Trump’s attempt to return to the White House and an additional $25 million toward Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential run, making him both candidates’ single largest benefactor.”
In 2016, in Rhode Island, Trump received 180,543 votes in his run for President -- 38.9% of the vote.
He has donated millions to other Republicans across the country. The only Rhode Island Republican donation tracked was a $1,000 donation to once General Treasurer Nancy Mayer.
Democrat Hillary Clinton got 252,525 votes -- and 54.4% of the vote.