The Pentagon said Friday it accepted an anonymous $130 million donation to help cover military paychecks during the government shutdown — an unprecedented move that has sparked questions over its legality.
President Trump announced the gift Thursday, telling supporters that “a friend” sent a check to make up for what he called a “Democrat shutdown.”
He said the donor, whom he did not name, “loves the military and loves the country” and wanted no recognition.
“On Oct. 23, 2025, the Department of War accepted an anonymous donation of $130 million under its general gift acceptance authority,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
“The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits. We are grateful for this donor’s assistance after Democrats opted to withhold pay from troops.”
The contribution came as millions of federal employees face missed checks and shuttered offices on day 24 of the partial government shutdown — the second-longest in US history.
But experts warned that the administration may not be able to legally disburse the money without congressional approval.
“The department is welcome to acknowledge this donor’s intent, but that does not change the legal restrictions on Congress needing to appropriate funds to pay military salaries,” Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Fox News Digital.
Boccia said existing law only permits the military to accept private gifts for limited purposes, such as funding schools, libraries, or facilities, or helping troops injured or killed in the line of duty.
“The only way to get around this restriction is if Congress decided to recategorize troop pay as mandatory or direct spending,” she said.
Article I of the US Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse — including the authority to allocate money for federal salaries.
Defense officials confirmed that the department accepted the donation “under its general gift acceptance authority,” but declined to say whether the donor was an American citizen or a foreign national.
Under Pentagon ethics rules, gifts above $10,000 must be vetted to ensure the donor does not have interests “substantially affected” by the gift, and non-US donors face added scrutiny.
Budget analyst Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute told Politico that the scale of the donation highlighted how far the crisis had gone.
Covering military pay for the first half of October cost about $6.5 billion, according to the White House.
Harrison said that based on that figure, the $130 million gift would only cover about one-third of one day’s pay.
Trump told supporters that the donor’s $130 million check was meant to “contribute any shortfall” caused by Democrats refusing to pass a spending bill.
“He called us and said, ‘I’d like to contribute personally because I love the military and I love the country,’” Trump said.
The White House referred inquiries about the money to the Pentagon and the Treasury Department, both of which declined to elaborate.
The Treasury did not immediately comment.
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