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.”

  • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍
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    1 month ago

    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
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      1 month ago

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

    • Saprophyte@lemmy.world
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      1 month 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
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      1 month 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.

      • Wrench@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Right. I always thought the FBI was responsible for hunting down counterfeiting. The whole point of the FBI is to be federal level police, and our currency is a federal concern.

        • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I understand why you would think that, but it’s wrong. The secret service is absolutely still in charge of investigating counterfeit money.

          I handled a lot of cash for an old job and I had to submit a form to the secret service whenever I reported counterfeits.

    • neuropean@kbin.social
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      1 month ago

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

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      1 month 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
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          1 month 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.