Watch: Fired Trump aide's name might be familiar to college football fans
An aide to President Donald Trump who was fired Tuesday is known for more than just his career in the White House.
Longtime Trump aide John McEntee was fired due to a Department of Homeland investigation into what CNN described as “serious financial crimes.” According to two sources, there were issues with McEntee’s security clearance.
But before he was John McEntee, personal aide to arguably the most powerful man in the world, he was Johnny McEntee, a UConn quarterback with a flair for amazing trick shots.
In 2011, McEntee went viral on YouTube after a nearly 5-minute long compilation video of some of his best trick shots was posted to the platform.
In the video, McEntee can be seen showing off his accuracy. He knocked a bottle off one of his teammate’s heads, completed perfect passes while blindfolded and shattered a clay pigeon while it was in the air.
In perhaps his most impressive feat, he climbed to the upper deck of UConn’s basketball arena and lofted a deep pass that went through the basket.
The compilation video, which has more than 7 million views, can be seen below:
After his video went viral, McEntee revealed that he was inspired by a similar video made by the UConn women’s basketball team.
“They made a trick shot video, so we wanted to make a football one,” he told WEEI in 2011, according to Deadspin. “We never knew it would get like this.”
“We’re hoping it dies down a little bit. It’s starting to get a little out of hand. We didn’t make it to promote ourselves, we just made it to be funny. I don’t want to take away from the team,” he added.
McEntee’s skills never quite translated when it came to facing real competition. In 15 career games with UConn, he completed 50.6 percent of his passes for 2,209 yards, with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Then, in 2015, McEntee joined Trump’s team as a volunteer, and was soon promoted to a full-time position, according to the Hartford Courant.
“I bought into the message,” he told Bloomberg at the time. “I was sick of the career politicians.”
His name was rarely in the news, but McEntee played an important role as Trump’s body man.
“Mr. McEntee wasn’t as well known as the others, but had been a constant presence at Mr. Trump’s side for the past three years,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “He made sure Mr. Trump had markers to sign autographs, delivered messages to him in the White House residence and, over the weekend, ensured that the clocks in the White House residence were adjusted for daylight-saving time.”
Though he was fired — and even escorted out of the White House — it didn’t take long for McEntee to land on his feet.
Minutes after it was revealed that he was no longer working for the White House, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale announced that McEntee would be joining the president’s re-election campaign as a senior adviser.
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