Trump Renews Threat to Revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. Citizenship; O’Donnell Points to Epstein Survivors

President Donald Trump on Wednesday renewed a threat to strip actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell of her U.S. citizenship, posting on Truth Social that he was “giving serious thought” to the move and calling her “not a Great American.” O’Donnell responded on Instagram by dismissing the threat and linking her dispute with Trump to a broader push by survivors of Jeffrey Epstein to force the government to release related files.

“We are giving serious thought to taking away Rosie O’Donnell’s Citizenship,” Trump wrote in the late-night post. He added that O’Donnell “is not a Great American and is, in my opinion, incapable of being so!” Legal experts and constitutional scholars have long maintained that a president cannot unilaterally revoke a person’s U.S. citizenship.

O’Donnell posted a screenshot of Trump’s message and addressed him directly, writing, “Banishing me again?” She added: “I'm the distraction. Epstein survivors are the reckoning and your gold lamé throne is melting.” Her reference came hours after several women who say they were abused by Epstein and his co‑conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell gathered on Capitol Hill to press Congress to release files related to the late sex offender.

“It’s not okay for us to be silenced,” said Marina Lacerda, one of the women who says she was abused by Epstein and Maxwell. Maxwell, a central figure in the prosecutions connected to Epstein’s trafficking network, is currently incarcerated. Survivors and their advocates have urged lawmakers to make public investigative records and materials they say are essential to fully understanding the scope of Epstein’s network.

Trump has made similar statements about O’Donnell in recent months. In July he said he was considering revoking her citizenship because she “is not in the best interests of our Great Country” and labeled her a “Threat to Humanity.” O’Donnell responded at that time with a social media post that referenced a fictional monarch, writing: “Go ahead and try, king joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. i’m not yours to silence i never was.”

The exchange is the latest episode in a long-running public feud between the former president and the comedian. While presidents have broad authority in many areas of governance, constitutional protections and federal statutes constrain unilateral action to revoke citizenship, a reality that has made such threats largely symbolic.

The renewed back-and-forth comes as pressure mounts on Capitol Hill from survivors and advocates seeking transparency about Epstein-era investigations. Their public appeals underscore ongoing congressional and public interest in documents and testimony related to Epstein’s activities and the networks that prosecutors have said enabled him.

Neither the White House nor Trump campaign officials provided further details about how such a revocation would be pursued. O’Donnell, a frequent critic of Trump for more than a decade, has continued to draw attention to the survivors’ calls for action and to challenge the legal and political limits of presidential threats.