It’s unclear what legal basis the president would use to revoke the New York-born comedian’s status as an American citizen.
President Donald Trump has threatened to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship.
In a Truth Social post on July 12, Trump called O’Donnell a “threat to humanity” and said that he’s considering revoking the U.S. citizenship of the New York-born comedian, who has repeatedly criticized and mocked the president, and called for his impeachment.
( @realDonaldTrump – Truth Social Post )
— Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) July 12, 2025
( Donald J. Trump – Jul 12, 2025, 9:42 AM ET )
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. She is a Threat to Humanity, and… pic.twitter.com/Vob9SFlmZu
Saying that O’Donnell is “not in the best interests” of the United States, Trump said he’s giving “serious consideration” to taking away her status as a U.S. citizen, adding that she should stay in Ireland.
O’Donnell moved to Ireland in mid-January, ahead of Trump’s second-term inauguration, saying in a TikTok video she would return “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America.”
@rosie hello all – here’s whats been going on folks – sending love ❤️- follow me on substack – link in my bio #bewell #speakkindlytoyourself #dourbest ♬ original sound – Rosie ODonnell
“It’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happening politically,” O’Donnell said at the time. She said she was in the process of getting her Irish citizenship, based on her Irish ancestry.
O‘Donnell was born in 1962 in Long Island, New York, to parents Roseanne O’Donnell and Edward O’Donnell. Her father, an engineer, immigrated to the United States from Ireland. Accordingly, she has birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment.
It is unclear what legal basis or process Trump would use were he to follow through with his threat to revoke her citizenship. The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment and received no response by publication time.
On Jan. 20, Trump issued an executive order limiting the birthright citizenship of individuals who were born in the United States to illegal immigrants. A federal judge has blocked that order. The case now lies with the Supreme Court.
In 1958, the Trop v. Dulles case involved a private in the U.S. Army who was a native-born citizen but whose citizenship was revoked due to his conviction by court-martial for wartime desertion.
The case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled against his citizenship revocation, stating that the matter of citizenship is “not subject to the general powers of the National Government, and therefore cannot be divested in the exercise of those powers.”
Even if the executive could nullify U.S. citizenship, this would violate the 8th Amendment “because it is penal in nature and prescribes a ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment,” the majority wrote in the split opinion.
In a post on her TikTok profile after Trump posted his message on Truth Social, O’Donnell called the president a “disgrace to all our beautiful country stands for,” and a “danger to the nation,” while vowing to “oppose him at every turn.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to O’Donnell through her booking agents with a request for comment.
By Tom Ozimek
