Rosie O'Donnell on Friday pushed back against President Donald Trump after he renewed a long-running public feud by threatening to revoke her U.S. citizenship. Speaking on “The Jim Acosta Show,” O'Donnell called the president "like a cornered rat" and said the threat was one of his familiar tactics to divert attention.
O'Donnell, who moved to Ireland in January, said the president's post — which included a distorted image of her — came hours after victims of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spoke on Capitol Hill. She argued the timing suggested an effort to shift public focus from the hearings.
"He goes into his bag of tricks and one of his tricks is, 'Let's make fun of Rosie O'Donnell and threaten her,' even though he's threatened me before and never done anything," O'Donnell said on the program. She called Trump's behavior "deranged" and said, "The time is up" for the president, asserting he recognizes his political vulnerability.
Trump's renewed attack revived a decades-long acrimony between the two public figures. The president has repeatedly mocked O'Donnell in public and on social media over the years, including past comments about revoking her citizenship. In Friday's post, observers noted the President's timing coincided with testimony by Epstein survivors on Capitol Hill, which O'Donnell referenced in her remarks.
On the show, she criticized what she described as an effort to distract from congressional scrutiny of the Epstein case and the administration's handling of related material. "Could you say I'm guilty without saying I'm guilty more than having a flyover during their press conference? As if he's going to hold the tide?" she asked, referencing the timing and imagery of Trump's post.
O'Donnell's move to Ireland earlier this year has at times figured into the dispute; she has remained a frequent target of the president's comments despite living abroad. She emphasized that Trump's online rhetoric has been consistent and, in her view, symptomatic of a broader strategy to command attention.
Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump's social media posts have often prompted public rebuttals from celebrities and critics, and this exchange continued a pattern of high-profile clashes between the president and entertainers.
The latest round of comments came amid renewed public interest in Epstein-related investigations and the testimony of victims before lawmakers, which has prompted scrutiny of institutional responses and calls for further accountability. O'Donnell framed the president's comments as an attempt to redirect the public conversation away from that scrutiny.
The exchange underscores how personal disputes between the president and public figures can intersect with wider political developments, with social media serving as the primary battleground. O'Donnell's remarks add to a string of celebrity responses to presidential commentary that have punctuated the broader national conversation in recent years.