WASHINGTON (BN24) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he is considering revoking the American citizenship of comedian and actress Rosie O’Donnell, despite longstanding legal precedent making such an action unconstitutional.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump lashed out at O’Donnell, calling her a “threat to humanity” and suggesting she should remain permanently in Ireland, where she relocated earlier this year.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Trump wrote. “She should remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her.”
The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that the government cannot revoke a person’s U.S. citizenship as punishment, especially if that person was born in the United States. O’Donnell was born in Commack, New York, in 1962 and holds citizenship by birthright.
O’Donnell fired back within hours, posting a photograph of Trump alongside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on her Instagram account.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption. “I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
O’Donnell, 62, moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Trump secured a second term in the White House. She has said she is pursuing Irish citizenship through her family’s heritage, telling supporters she would only consider returning to live in the U.S. “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights.”
The feud between O’Donnell and Trump stretches back nearly two decades, long before his presidency, and has frequently erupted into personal insults. Their clashes began in 2006 when O’Donnell criticized Trump on television, prompting years of insults from the former real estate developer and reality TV star.
Saturday’s threat marks the latest episode in Trump’s pattern of targeting critics with talk of punitive measures. Earlier this year, he also threatened to revoke the citizenship of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, although Musk was born in South Africa and became a naturalized American citizen.
Unlike Musk, however, O’Donnell’s citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship and prohibits revocation without consent.
Legal scholars immediately dismissed Trump’s comments as unconstitutional.
“Any attempt to strip Rosie O’Donnell of her citizenship would be struck down in minutes,” said Harold Krent, a constitutional law expert and former dean of Chicago-Kent College of Law. “The Supreme Court has made clear that you cannot punish someone by taking away their nationality.”
O’Donnell, in her Instagram post, gave no indication she plans to return to the United States anytime soon.
