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  •   Home > News > International

    Donald Trump has threatened to revoke US-born Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship. Here's the history of their feud

    The actor, talk show host and comedian has publicly criticised US president on social media in the past week, but it's not the first time she's been vocal against him.


    US President Donald Trump says he's considering "taking away" the citizenship of Rosie O'Donnell, who was born in the United States.

    O'Donnell publicly criticised Mr Trump on social media in the past week, but it's not the first time she's been vocal against him.

    Let's look back at the history of their feud, and how it escalated over the weekend.

    What did Trump say about O'Donnell?

    Mr Trump posted on his own social media platform Truth Social that he was "giving serious consideration to taking away her citizenship".

    He said this as because she was "not in the best interests of our great country" and called her a "threat to humanity".

    At the moment, it appears that people cannot see the US president's profile on the platform unless they sign up to have an account, so here's a screenshot of that post:

    Can Trump 'take away' O'Donnell's US citizenship?

    No.

    O'Donnell was born in the US, giving her a right to citizenship under the US Constitution.

    And this has been backed up by a US Supreme Court ruling way back in 1967, University of Virginia law professor Amanda Frost said.

    "The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen," she said.

    "In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people."

    US citizens can choose to renounce their citizenship, but that's something they can only do voluntarily.

    That process requires two separate interviews and making what's called an "oath of renunciation of US nationality", according to the US Department of State's website.

    When he was re-elected, Mr Trump signed an executive order that would have ended the ability for the children of illegal migrants to claim birthright citizenship in the US.

    However, that order has been blocked by a federal judge and is expected to be tested by the US Supreme Court.

    Either way, there has been no suggestion O'Donnell's family circumstances would apply in those circumstances.

    Who is O'Donnell?

    She's an actor, talk show host and comedian.

    O'Donnell starred in movies including A League of Her Own, Now and Then, Sleepless in Seattle and Harriet the Spy.

    She was a regular on daytime television, hosting a talk show, called The Rosie Show from 1996 to 2002.

    O'Donnell was also a member of the US TV talk show The View, with IMDB listing 121 appearances to her name between 2005 and 2016.

    Despite being born in the US, O'Donnell now lives in Ireland, having moved there after Mr Trump defeated then-vice-president Kamala Harris in last year's election.

    She has said she is trying to secure Irish citizenship based on her family lineage.

    Where did the Trump and O'Donnell feud start?

    Most US media outlets trace it back to 2006, when O'Donnell was on The View.

    Mr Trump came up as a topic on the show after he held a press conference in his capacity as the then-owner of the Miss Universe Organization.

    He said he would give Tara Conner "a second chance" after threatening to strip her of her Miss USA crown amid rumours she had been frequenting bars while underage.

    In a clip of the show reposted to YouTube, O'Donnell impersonates Mr Trump by sweeping her hair into a comb-over and mocking his voice, then questions his right to judge Conner.

    "He's the moral authority," she said sarcastically.

    "[He] left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair, had kids both times, but he's the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America."

    She also compared him to a con artist, criticised him for inheriting money and going bankrupt, and accused him of leaving his creditors in the lurch.

    Mr Trump responded by giving a statement to entertainment website People, calling O'Donnell "a real loser".

    "Rosie will rue the words she said," he told People.

    "I'll most likely sue her for making those false statements — and it'll be fun."

    Mutual dislike heightens during presidential campaign

    The pair's feud continued throughout the years, but ramped up as Mr Trump went into politics.

    During Mr Trump's first presidential campaign in 2015, he brought up O'Donnell when asked about his use of language to describe women by debate moderator Megyn Kelly:

    Kelly: You've called women you don't like 'fat pigs', 'dogs', 'slobs' and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account…

    Trump: [Interrupts] Only Rosie O'Donnell

    US broadcaster CNN detailed their firey exchanges over what was then known as Twitter, including a post from Mr Trump calling her a "loser", "mentally sick" and "a dummy".

    O'Donnell's account has since been deleted, but CNN quoted her as calling him "stupid", calling him a "con man" and a "sexual predator".

    She staged a rally calling for resistance against Mr Trump during his first term in February 2017

    After Mr Trump won his second presidential victory in 2024, O'Donnell moved to Ireland.

    She said in a TikTok video that she'd return to the US "when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America".

    What did O'Donnell say about Trump recently?

    Earlier this month, O'Donnell posted a TikTok video mourning the 119 deaths in the July 4 floods in Texas.

    "What a horror story in Texas," she said in the video.

    "And you know, when the president guts all the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of the government, these are the results that we're gonna start to see on a daily basis."

    O'Donnell also reposted a picture of Mr Trump and his wife Melania with accused serial paedophile Jeffery Epstein and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell on her Instagram account.

    A few days later, she posted a video to her Instagram account calling the Republicans a "burgeoning fascist America party", comparing Mr Trump's government to Nazi Germany.

    She responded to Mr Trump's threat about her citizenship by posting a different photo of Mr Trump and Epstein together.

    "You are everything that is wrong with America –?and I'm everything you hate about what's still right with it," she said.

    "You want to revoke my citizenship?

    "Go ahead and try."

    ABC with Wires


    ABC




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