Donald Trump’s former White House aide is under fire after a video showed him claiming to distribute fake money to homeless people so that they will be arrested when they spend it.

Johnny McEntee, formerly the White House Presidential Personnel Office under the former president, posted a video on TikTok in which he discusses the purported scheme to “clean up the community.”

“So I always keep this fake Hollywood money in my car, so when a homeless person asks for money, and I give them like a $5 bill, I feel good about myself, they feel good,” said McEntee, also a senior advisor to Project 2025. “And then when they go to use it, they get arrested, so I’m actually helping to clean up the community and get them off the street.”

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    6 months ago

    “So I always keep this fake Hollywood money in my car, so when a homeless person asks for money, and I give them like a $5 bill, I feel good about myself, they feel good,” said McEntee, also a senior advisor to Project 2025. “And then when they go to use it, they get arrested, so I’m actually helping to clean up the community and get them off the street.”

    Wow… What a fucking cartoonishly evil piece of shit…

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    So another of Trump’s sycophants is committing crime that will get him arrested while Trump (who may or may not be behind or endorse the crime) gets away without consequences. How very typical.

    And If memory serves, wasn’t the secret service originally invented to fight fraud? Either counterfeiting, mail fraud, or something?

  • UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Like the movement it grew out of. trumpism is designed to be cruel. To be Sadistic. To be brutal. To be heartless. It is not a flaw in their thinking. It is a purposely chosen tactic. As it is something that is desired it will never be punished

  • boydster@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    Didn’t George Floyd get murdered because he paid with a counterfeit? And assholes like this are proud of it.

        • refalo@programming.dev
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          6 months ago

          and even less people know that movie money isn’t prosecutable without proving it was intentional.

            • refalo@programming.dev
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              6 months ago

              someone would have to prove you did it on purpose knowing it was fake, and that requires getting arrested and charged in the first place and making it all the way to court

                • refalo@programming.dev
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                  6 months ago

                  admit what? handing people prop money? there’s nothing illegal with that or even proof he actually did it. not trying to defend anyone but just saying. these strawmen are a bit silly IMO

    • whereisk@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      The whole thing stinks as schoolboy level revenge fantasy. I doubt there’s truth to it.

      Prop money has specific laws and guidelines and is very easily identifiable and therefore do not count as counterfeit.

      If a $5 bill does find its way in the economy no one gets arrested probably, someone just made a stupid trade. Otherwise half the store owners would be in jail when attempting to deposit money that happens to contain a fake note here and there.

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Manufacturing prop money for movie purposes isn’t illegal. Passing it as legal tender IS. Note that passing and creating are 2 separate crimes. Notably even though he is giving it away he has specifically stated that the aim of this scheme is for it to be used for commerce by unwitting victims.

        • refalo@programming.dev
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          6 months ago

          you’re applying those terms to the wrong thing.

          there’s nothing inherently illegal with saying you’re giving someone fake money so they’ll get arrested.

          and trying to use movie money also won’t get anyone arrested.

          • CertifiedBlackGuy@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Actually it is inherently illegal. It’s fraud.

            Because like the previous person said, they’re attempting to pass it off as legal tender by getting the homeless person the money so they’ll use it.

            • refalo@programming.dev
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              6 months ago

              that’s not what passing it off means.

              you have to actually try to use the money yourself, knowing it’s fake, for there to be a crime in this situation.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I got passed a fake $100 as a pizza delivery driver one time. Some secret service agents came to my store a few days later, and asked me about where I got it. They took the information I had, and continued their investigation to get to the person that made the thing. It was easy to tell them where I got it. That was the only $100 bill I had been handed in weeks.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Those cannot be reasonably mistaken for real currency. Carefully so, even.

      This person allegedly (from his own mouth) intentionally passed off paper convincing enough to be used in films, as real currency, to people with a high likelihood of mental illness, in the express desire to trick them into using it as real currency so that they get arrested.

      Who knows if any of this is true, but from the asses’ own mouth, that’s a world of difference in intent.

      • Doxatek@mander.xyz
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        6 months ago

        You’re right that no one would think they were real. When i worked at McDonald’s the bastards would pay this at the back window and try and zoom forward and get their food from the next window before the confused money taker could let the person handing out the food know lol

        Not that anyone thought it was real though. You’re definitely still correct

  • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Alternate headline: Vapid idiot brags about his incessant need to punch down in order to sexually perform

    • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      6 months ago

      By notified it means that they were tagged on social media. Persecution would probably require a victim to be found or come forward, or maybe get a warrant to search his vehicle for counterfeits and cocaine, unless they get him for a lesser charge like conspiracy to commit a crime.

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    6 months ago

    I think that this is an attempt at a joke rather than something he actually did. He probably enjoys reading about how angry his political opponents are about it.

    • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Prop money is counterfeit money if you try to pass it as real money.

      That’s exactly what he did with it, and then bragged about it stating his criminal intent.

    • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      The Secret Service was created to investigate counterfeiting. The president stuff came later.

    • Octavio@kbin.social
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      6 months ago

      Well their original charter was to investigate counterfeiting. The presidential protection thing was kind of an add-on. But my impression was that the original function was moved to a different agency and the USSS, originally under the treasury department, moved to Homeland Security. So I don’t know why they would have anything to with this. Unless I remembered that wrong.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Their original job was to go after counterfeiting And it’s still their jam. (Along with other similar financial crimes.)

      (Edit fuck autocorrect,)

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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          6 months ago

          Actually, a carpenter dealers with wooden structures like building frames and decks. A cabinet maker dealers with more intricate woodworking like furniture, countertops, and interior decorations. If you’re going to snarky, you better be correct.