Rosie O’Donnell Responds to Trump’s Threat to Revoke Her U.S. Citizenship, Brings Epstein Into the Row
Comedian and actor Rosie O’Donnell has responded to President Donald Trump‘s threat to have her U.S. citizenship revoked, the latest move in a yearslong back-and-forth between the two New York-born former TV stars.
Taking to her Instagram on Saturday, hours after Trump’s threat, O’Donnell uploaded a picture of the U.S. President with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump socialized with Epstein decades ago and is now embroiled in a charged public discourse as people demand for his Administration to release the full Epstein files, something he seemed inclined to do during his campaign.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Captioning the pointed image, O’Donnell, who is currently living in Ireland and seeking Irish citizenship through her grandparents’ roots, said: “I’m everything you fear. A loud woman, a queer woman, a mother who tells the truth, an American who got out of the country before you set it ablaze. You are everything that is wrong with America—and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it.”
“You want to revoke my citizenship? Go ahead and try, King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan,” concluded O’Donnell, making reference to the villainous child-king from the hit HBO series Game of Thrones.
O’Donnell commented further during an appearance on the Sunday with Miriam show on Ireland’s RTÉ Radio 1.
“I reacted with a little post that I jotted off in five minutes, and that’s been getting a lot of attention online,” she said, reiterating her response to Trump’s threat. “I am very proud to be opposed to every single thing he says and does and represents.”
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On Saturday, Trump had told his more than 10 million followers on Truth Social that he was giving “serious consideration” to stripping O’Donnell of her citizenship, claiming she “is not in the best interests” of the U.S.
“She is a threat to humanity and should remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her,” the U.S. President said.
Trump’s threat comes as his Administration continues its attempt to rollback birthright citizenship law. On Thursday, a federal judge placed a temporary nationwide block on Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship.
Experts argue that a 1967 Supreme Court ruling means that the U.S. government does not have the ability to revoke the citizenship of a native-born U.S. citizen under the fourteenth amendment.
Just recently, Trump has threatened to revoke the U.S. citizenship of his one-time ally and now key critic, Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, and the Democratic New York City mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Uganda. However, his threat against O’Donnell is particularly loaded, as the pair share a fraught history that goes back years.
O’Donnell notably criticized Trump in 2006 during an episode of the round-table talk show The View, of which she was a panelist. O’Donnell mocked Trump in relation to a press conference he appeared in for the Miss USA contest, which he co-owned at the time.
Meanwhile, Trump lashed out in a celebrity-edition episode of The Apprentice at a boardroom meeting, during which he called O’Donnell “disgusting” multiple times.
Trump also brought up the comedian during his 2016 presidential campaign. In a debate with his opponent, Hillary Clinton, he said: “Rosie O’Donnell—I said very tough things to her, and I think everybody would agree that she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her.”
O’Donnell responded at the time, saying Trump “will never be President” in one post and calling him an “orange an-s” in another.
Meanwhile, O’Donnell’s choice to post an image of Trump and Epstein comes at an interesting time. On Saturday, Trump defended Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has come under fire for not releasing the Epstein files in full. There have long been calls to see a so-called “client list” supposedly belonging to Epstein. (Bondi’s previous release of some files were heavily redacted and informed the public of little they had not learned before.)
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again,” Trump said, encouraging people to move on from the topic.
“One year ago our country was dead, now it’s the hottest country anywhere in the world. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
Trump’s input comes amid backlash over the publication of a memo from the Justice Department and FBI, who conducted a review of the Epstein investigation. Per the memo, their findings concluded there is no evidence Epstein kept a “client list” or was murdered. It also said “no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”
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Trump’s commentary about Epstein has been of high interest, especially since Musk, in a now-deleted social media post, alleged that Trump is listed in the files related to the late financier and alleged sex trafficker. “That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk said in early June. He did not provide evidence pertaining to this.
Trump’s connection to Epstein dates back decades. In an interview with New York magazine in 2002, he said that Epstein was “a lot of fun to be with.”
“It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump told the reporter.
In July 2019, NBC News’ TODAY released video footage believed to be from 1992, which showed Trump hosting Epstein at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
After Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump made an effort to distance himself.
Speaking in the Oval Office in 2019, Trump said: “I had a falling out with him [Epstein]. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”