John McEntee (political aide)
John McEntee | |
|---|---|
| Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office | |
| In office January 8, 2020 – January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Jordan Karem |
| Succeeded by | Catherine M. Russell |
| Personal Aide to the President | |
| In office January 20, 2017 – March 13, 2018 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Joe Paulsen |
| Succeeded by | Jordan Karem |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 9, 1990 Fullerton, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | University of Connecticut (BA) |
| UConn Huskies – No. 18 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 208 lb (94 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | UConn (2008–2012) |
| High school | Servite High School (Anaheim, California) |
John David McEntee II (born May 9, 1990) is an American political advisor, entrepreneur and former football player who served in the Trump Administration. He has been a Trump loyalist during and after the Trump presidency.[1][2] He began as a body man and personal aide to the president but was dismissed by White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly in March 2018 after failing a security clearance background check, which had found that he was under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for issues related to gambling.[3][4][5][6][7]
After Kelly was dismissed in December 2018, Donald Trump rehired McEntee and named him Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in February 2020.[3][8][9][10]
McEntee played a significant role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol attack, and promoted numerous conspiracy theories about the election.[3]
Early life
[edit]McEntee was raised in a Roman Catholic family in Fullerton, California.[11] His father is John D. McEntee, a producer and manager who books celebrities for private and corporate functions, as well as for resorts including the MGM Resorts, Caesars Palace, and Venetian Properties.[12] He first attended St. Angela Merici Parish School in Brea, California, and then attended Servite High School in Anaheim, where he played quarterback on the varsity football team.[13]
McEntee was a redshirt his first year at the University of Connecticut, and completed his communications degree in the spring of his senior year.[14] He played college football for the Huskies, but was used sparingly in his first two seasons.[15] McEntee was named the starting quarterback during the 2011 season, after a strong performance against Buffalo.[16] In the next game against Western Michigan, he recorded his season and career-high, after throwing for 300 yards and four touchdowns.[17] McEntee lost the starting job to transfer Chandler Whitmer in the 2012 season, and dropped down the depth chart to third-string, making just three appearances for the Huskies.[18]
Career
[edit]Trump campaign and the White House
[edit]In 2015, McEntee worked as a production assistant for Fox News, focusing on the channel's social media accounts.[11] He successfully lobbied for a job on the Trump campaign, joining as a volunteer in July of that year later being promoted to a full-time position as trip director.[19]
After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, McEntee was asked to join his staff as an aide, serving as his body man.[5] McEntee accompanied Trump on all trips, most notably the President's trip to Saudi Arabia in May 2017, where "Man in red tie" (McEntee) and "#Trump's_daughter" (Ivanka Trump) briefly became the most trending hashtags in that country.[20]
McEntee's first term of service in the White House ended on March 13, 2018, when he was fired due to an "unspecified security issue" that was later revealed to be gambling-related.[3][21][22]
2020 United States presidential election and attempts to overturn it
[edit]| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
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After his dismissal from the White House, McEntee was hired by Trump's 2020 reelection campaign as a senior adviser for campaign operations. In January 2020, McEntee returned to the White House, where he shared some of his former duties with Nick Luna, the Director of Oval Office Operations.[23] Shortly after his return, McEntee was then promoted to Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office,[8] overseeing the President's 4,000 appointments to the federal bureaucracy. McEntee reported directly to the President and continued to hold his role as Trump's bodyman concurrently. He was tasked with identifying and removing political appointees and career officials deemed insufficiently loyal to the administration, despite having no previous personnel or people management experience. [22][24][25][26] His reappointment was controversial given the circumstances of his dismissal.[27] McEntee's purge of the Trump administration was lauded by many Trump loyalists who have long urged President Trump to terminate those in his administration seeking to undermine him.[28] McEntee's reappointment was seen as controversial to some given the circumstances of his dismissal.[29][9][10][30]
Leading up to the certification of the 2020 election, McEntee falsely claimed Mike Pence had the authority to overturn the results. McEntee sent a series of bullet points via text message to Pence's chief of staff to assert that Thomas Jefferson "Used His Position as VP to Win" the 1801 election.[3] In a piece about McEntee, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl characterized the analysis as "absurd" because "Jefferson didn't discard electoral votes, as Trump wanted Pence to do. He accepted electoral votes from a state that nobody had questioned he had won."[3]
On November 9, 2021, McEntee was issued a subpoena to testify by the House January 6th Committee.[31] On two occasions in 2022, he appeared before the committee in a taped deposition,[32][33] returning in person in January 2023.[34]
In November 2023 Karl wrote that in the closing weeks of the Trump presidency McEntee worked with Douglas Macgregor, who was about to assume the role of Senior Advisor to Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, to draft a brief document ordering the swift withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Germany, and Africa.[3] The president signed the memo and it was forwarded to Kash Patel at the Pentagon without any review by the legal, military or national security apparatus, nor was it recorded by Derek Lyons, the White House staff secretary responsible for filing and transmitting official presidential orders. After Miller and Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley went to the White House to inquire about the order, it was rescinded.[35]
The Right Stuff Dating App
[edit]After leaving the White House in 2021, McEntee met with billionaire Peter Thiel to pitch him several tech startup ideas, one of which was the idea for a conservative dating app called The Right Stuff. Thiel agreed to fund the app and subsequently made a seed round investment of $1.5 million. The app launched on September 30, 2022.[36][37]
The app, which marketed itself as a platform for Republican singles, struggled with a low female user base and trolls, and faced criticism over potential data collection issues. The Right Stuff was variously described as "gimicky", a "hustle", a "flop", and a "grift".[38][39] Logan Blakeslee, a student at Binghamton University and a writer for the Binghamton Review, described the platform as a commercial failure.[40] In 2022, it was reported that the FBI had allegedly used the app to track January 6 rioters who bragged about their participation on their profile.[38][41]
Rather than pursue conventional marketing techniques, McEntee utilized a unique new strategy in which he promoted the app in part through videos staged to appear as though the viewer was on a date with McEntee, where he shared controversial and provocative opinions on a variety of topics.[42][38] The style of these videos remains a notable feature of McEntee's online presence, particularly on TikTok, where his account has amassed over 1 billion views as of October 2024.[38][43]
Project 2025
[edit]In May 2023, it was announced that McEntee was joining The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025.[44][45] Described by The New York Times as "one of Trump's most trusted aides", McEntee and his association with Project 2025 serves as the main link between the Heritage Foundation and former President Trump.[citation needed] On November 1, 2023, the Times reported that his role includes working as "part of a team searching for potential lawyers" for Trump's next Administration.[46] McEntee has stated that as part of Project 2025, he supports a total ban on pornography.[47][48][49][50]
Controversies
[edit]Allegations of inappropriate conduct
[edit]In 2024, multiple reports surfaced accusing McEntee of sending inappropriate and sexually explicit messages to young women, including teenagers, through social media platforms and The Right Stuff. One woman, Grace Carter, shared that McEntee reached out to her in October 2023, when she was 18 years old, offering merchandise from the app and attempting to arrange a trip for her and a friend to visit him in Los Angeles. Despite Carter expressing discomfort and declining to visit, McEntee continued to contact her.[51] Another woman reported similar advances and inappropriate sexual comments from McEntee after connecting with him through the The Right Stuff app. Both women indicated that McEntee's behavior made them uncomfortable.[52]
Controversial social media activity
[edit]In May 2024, McEntee sparked outrage after posting a video on TikTok in which he claimed to give homeless people fake money, stating that they would be arrested when trying to use it. McEntee stated in the video, "I always keep this fake Hollywood money in my car... so when a homeless person asks for money, I give them a fake $5 bill. So I feel good about myself. They feel good. And then when they go to use it, they get arrested."[53] He went on to assert his efforts were helping "clean up the streets". While the video included a caption stating "Just a joke. Everyone calm down," it was widely condemned. Critics described McEntee’s actions as cruel and inhumane and several noted that, if McEntee had done what he had claimed, it would likely be considered a federal crime under 18 US Code section 480.[54] In October, 2024, McEntee sparked outrage by stating that only men should be allowed to vote: "Sorry we want MALE only voting. The 19th might have to go," he said referring to the 19th Amendment [55]
References
[edit]- ^ Josh Dawsey; Juliet Eilperin; John Hudson; Lisa Rein (November 13, 2023). "Behind the Curtain: Trump allies pre-screen loyalists for unprecedented power grab". Axios.
A staunch Trump loyalist
- ^ Baker, Peter (February 22, 2020). "Trump's Efforts to Remove the Disloyal Heightens Unease Across His Administration". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g Karl, Jonathan D. (November 9, 2021). "The Man Who Made January 6 Possible". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
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- ^ a b Wisckol, Martin (January 5, 2017). "Former Servite, UConn QB and YouTube star John McEntee picked as aide to Trump". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ^ Wisckol, Martin (January 23, 2017). "Trump Appointments as of 1/19". washington.edu. University of Washington. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
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- ^ a b Treene, Alayna (February 13, 2020). "Ex-Trump aide John McEntee to lead White House office of personnel". Axios.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
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- ^ "Entertainment producer donates big act to church fest". Orange County Register. May 25, 2012. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2018 – via ocregister.com.
- ^ "John McEntee's High School Timeline". MaxPreps.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ^ "Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. Deposition of: John McEntee" (PDF). govinfo.gov. March 28, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
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- ^ "Alex Carder throws for 479 yards as Western Michigan knocks off UConn". ESPN. October 1, 2011. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2023 – via Associated Press.
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