John McEntee, an ex-aide in former President Donald Trump’s administration, is facing backlash after he declared that he’s “helping clean up the community” by distributing fake dollar bills to people who are homeless in a recent TikTok clip.
McEntee — also a senior adviser to the “Project 2025” blueprint for a possible second Trump term — made the claim in a TikTok video shared by The Right Stuff, a conservative dating app he co-founded in 2022.
“So I always keep this fake Hollywood money in my car so when a homeless person asks for money, then I give him like a fake $5 bill, so I feel good about myself, they feel good,” said McEntee in a clip with the caption “Just a joke. Everyone calm down #fyp.”
“And then, when they go to use it, they get arrested so I’m actually like helping clean up the community. You know, getting them off the street.”
McEntee, who was described by The Atlantic as helping “set the stage” for the Jan. 6 attack, was fired from his Trump White House post amid a Department of Homeland Security investigation into financial crimes back in 2018 only to be rehired as the director of the presidential personnel office in 2020.
It’s unclear whether the money in the clip is legitimate.
People could face up to 20 years in prison and be fined for knowingly and with the intent to defraud, possess or distribute any false, forged or counterfeit bill, according to 18 U.S. Code § 480.
Critics slammed the former Trump White House aide over his “deeply evil” video: