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.”

  • 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.

    • 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.