this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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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."

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[–] Drusas@kbin.run 281 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Truly no level these people won't stoop to.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 56 points 6 months ago

Conservatives love SWATing

[–] Zink@programming.dev 14 points 6 months ago

Punching down is like level 0 for them though. But I still agree with you.

[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 209 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

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

[–] moon@lemmy.ml 121 points 6 months ago (2 children)

No. George Floyd was murdered because an asshole cop thought he could choke him out with impunity

[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 92 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

But why were the police even called?

Before the police were called, Martin and his co-workers made two trips to the SUV that Floyd was sitting in outside Cup Foods, trying to get him to come back to the store, Martin said. He recalled telling Floyd and his friends that the bill Floyd had just used was fake, and that his boss wanted to talk to him.

All I'm saying is, the consequences aren't as simple as "some homeless lowlife goes to jail lol" like the guy in the article seems to feel in his heart. Sometimes a counterfeit bill results in a 9- minute long public execution followed months of societal pain.

ETA: Johnny McEntee! That's the asshole's name. Johnny McEntee is the asshole that is trying to get homeless people into situations involving police over counterfeit money. Police that sometimes decide murder is a best path to justice for poor people with counterfeit money legal issus. Fuck that guy.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 43 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (7 children)

Well that's what the situation escalated to, yes, but what was the instigating factor. I know cops really don't need one in practice, but usually they at least make one up.

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[–] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 72 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

That is some dark shit to do to someone. The hardest hit people, that are usually mentally unstable, being setup. Fuck'd up

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[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 179 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world 23 points 6 months ago (1 children)

crimes against fellow Americans

FTFY

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[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 145 points 6 months ago (4 children)

So he's a counterfeiter? I'm sorry, isn't that a federal crime?

[–] BleatingZombie@lemmy.world 65 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Strangely enough, the secret service covers stolen and counterfeit money

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[–] whereisk@lemmy.world 44 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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 56 points 6 months ago (12 children)

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.

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[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 13 points 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.

[–] wildcardology@lemmy.world 35 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Uhm that's why the secret service was notified.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago (15 children)

Not everyone knows that the Secret Service also investigates counterfeiting crimes.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 16 points 6 months ago

You could say it's a secret service of theirs.

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[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 49 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Very disgusting. Glad the Secret Service has been notified.

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[–] sxan@midwest.social 36 points 6 months ago (11 children)

Can anyone eli5 why the Secret Service would have anything to do with this? Up until now, I thought their sole role was protecting POTUS. Do they prosecute money fraud, too?

[–] xantoxis@lemmy.world 138 points 6 months ago

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

[–] Saprophyte@lemmy.world 68 points 6 months ago

https://www.secretservice.gov/investigations

Counterfeiting of United States currency, bonds, checks, and other financial obligations and securities. Distributing or passing of counterfeited, forged, or altered U.S. currency and other financial obligations and securities. Criminals sometimes use online forums to sell bulk counterfeited U.S. or foreign currency.

[–] Octavio@kbin.social 29 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] neuropean@kbin.social 16 points 6 months ago

They basically handle counterfeit money cases, so people spending counterfeit money provided by this asshole would have been investigated by the secret service.

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 32 points 6 months ago (8 children)

How is this different from the assholes that spread these as "tips"?

[–] EatATaco@lemm.ee 54 points 6 months ago

The people who pass these out are huge assholes...but do honestly need it explained to you why tricking a homeless person into using fake money so they are arrested is not the same as some religious nutter attempting to trick you into reading their proselytization?

[–] Wrench@lemmy.world 54 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world 31 points 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

[–] Syrc@lemmy.world 28 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The video in question, since links in the article lead to nothing

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 24 points 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...

[–] willie1foot@theblower.au 19 points 6 months ago

@Stopthatgirl7 Arseholes hire arseholes… quelle surprise

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 18 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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?

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[–] Delusional@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago

Wow who knew that these obvious piece of shit scumbags were obvious piece of shit scumbags. They're a detriment to our society and republicans elect them to positions of power where they can become even larger detriments to our society.

[–] slurpinderpin@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

Arrest this dumb fucker and throw away the key

[–] Otakulad@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Shows how stupid this guy is. Obviously it isn't illegal for someone to own "Hollywood money" or else he wouldn't admit to owning it himself. If a homeless person gives it to a store and they accept it, that's on them.

It clearly states on the bills "For Motion Picture use Only", doesn't feel right, and isn't the right size.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 52 points 6 months ago

If a homeless man accepts a Hollywood bill, believes it genuine, and tries to spend it - they're not at fault for most of the currency related laws. Simply handing a homeless person a fake bill with the intent that they believe it is genuine is the super illegal thing. There's a large mens rhea component to most crimes but especially around fraud... the basis of most fraud cases is inequal information: you purposefully don't disclose a significant quality of the goods being transferred.

I hope this shitheel learns thoroughly that the secret service are really fucking serious about their non-bodyguard duty.

(Also, shout out to Warehouse 13 for being a fucking hilarious premise right in this area)

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 29 points 6 months ago (5 children)

The person handing them out, passing the fake bills off as real money to the homeless(even as a donation) is the illegal thing. Spending a counterfeit bill without having known it was fake is not illegal in the US afaik, but you can still be arrested for it because the police don't have to believe that you didn't know.

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