Government

Should You Admit To Committing Federal Crimes On TikTok? Asking For This Absolute Idiot.

Knowingly giving counterfeit money to homeless people is, in fact, a federal crime.

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Screenshot 2024-05-13 at 9.05.04 AMJohnny McEntee served as an aide to Donald Trump before getting fired because Homeland Security flagged a gambling issue that tripped up his security clearance. Since this is the same administration that would end up throwing nuclear secrets in the Mar-a-Lago bathrooms, this security issue didn’t deter Trump who rehired McEntee to run his Presidential Personnel Office. He’s currently a senior advisor to a Heritage Foundation project drafting a proposed agenda for the next Republican administration.

But in his spare time, he enjoys posting fun videos of himself confessing to federal crimes.

Perhaps McEntee is just lying about everything in this video to front like he’s a miserable troll. It’s certainly possible. But if we take him at his word, he is at the very least in breach of 18 U.S. Code § 472:

Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

Of note, the unsuspecting homeless people he’d ensnare in this scheme would lack the requisite intent to defraud, meaning the only participant in the hypothetical transaction actually committing any crime is McEntee himself.

That said, while a homeless person duped by a stunt like this would not commit a federal crime if they tried to pass a bill they believed to be genuine, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be arrested for the attempt. Or worse, given that George Floyd was stopped for attempting to spend a counterfeit bill when he the police killed him.

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Anyway, don’t commit federal crimes, kids!

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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