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.”
So he’s a counterfeiter? I’m sorry, isn’t that a federal crime?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Look at that goalpost move!
A difference of opinion on subjective semantics is not inherently “moving the goalposts” IMO.
What part about giving a person $5 because they asked for it isn’t using the money? They’re asking for real money. You give them fake money, knowing it’s fake. You don’t tell them it’s fake.
Imagine donating fake money to a charity. Same thing.
it isn’t using because you’re not paying for goods or services
Try it. Tell the secret service what you’re doing and then record yourself donating fake currency that you’re trying to pass off as real currency. Just keep tagging them until they tell you to stop because it’s totally legal.
There’s more to transactions than the purchase of goods and services.
Donating money is a transaction. Using counterfeit money to donate while claiming it is legal tender makea the donation fraudulent.
Crawl back under your bridge, mate.
Sounds like he’s paying for something.
Which is what he is doing when he gives it to the homeless person. Assuming we can take him at his word that he actually does this, of course, and with Trumpists, that’s a big if.
What if there’s gold fringe on the flag?
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter25&edition=prelim
Yes
Strangely enough, the secret service covers stolen and counterfeit money
I learned that from Fallout 76, with the gold billions!
Uhm that’s why the secret service was notified.
Not everyone knows that the Secret Service also investigates counterfeiting crimes.
You could say it’s a secret service of theirs.
and even less people know that movie money can’t actually count as counterfeit or get anyone in trouble, apparently.
It can if you try to pass it off as real money.
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
You mean like making a video where you say you are hoping people will try to use it as legal tender, and are distributing it for that express purpose?
which part of that is illegal?
Uh, distributing known fake bills that you intend people to use as legal tender? Is this a trick question?
Edit: you will probably have the same response here as elsewhere.
Or you just admit it like this moron in the article.
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
I’m not sure why you missed this quote, but apparently you did:
He is blatantly admitting passing off fake money as real money.