Rosie O’Donnell Dismisses Trump’s Threat to Revoke Her US Citizenship

THE GUARDIAN: Actor says she is latest in long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by US president

Rosie O’Donnell has shrugged off a threat from Donald Trump to revoke her US citizenship on the grounds that she is “a threat to humanity”.

The New York-born actor and comedian said on Sunday that she was the latest in a long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by the US president.

“So, I didn’t take it personally, but I will tell you the way that he is has emboldened people like him,” O’Donnell told RTÉ Radio’s Sunday with Miriam show.

The Trump administration has sought to curb citizenship rights and questioned the citizenship of some critics, including Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, as well as people like O’Donnell who were born in the US. » | Rory Carroll | Ireland correspondent | Sunday, July 13, 2025

Trump Ends Birthright Citizenship for Children of Troops Overseas

Donald Trump’s administration is once again flouting the law in order to appease their base. The administration has now ended birthright citizenship to children born overseas to members of the military and US officials stationed outside the country. These children, under law, are US citizens, but not in the eyes of the Trump administration, and they will now have to go through the standard immigration process and apply for citizenship. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Why Are Americans Giving Up Their Citizenship?

BBC: The number of Americans giving up their citizenship has rocketed this year - partly, it's thought, because of a new tax law that is frustrating many expats.

Goodbye, US passport.

That's not a concept that Americans contemplate lightly. But it's one that many of them seem to be considering - and acting on. The number of expatriates renouncing their US citizenship surged in the second quarter of 2013, compared with the same period the year before - 1,131 cases to 189 in 2012. It's still a small proportion of the estimated six million Americans abroad, but it's a significant rise.

The list is compiled by the Federal Register and while no reasons are given, the big looming factor seems to be tax.

A new law called the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) will, from 1 July next year, require all financial institutions around the world to report directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all the assets and incomes of any US citizens with $50,000 (£31,000) on their books. The US could withhold 30% of dividends and interest payments due to the banks that don't comply.

It's an attempt by the US authorities to recover an estimated $100bn a year in unpaid taxes on US citizens' assets overseas. Unlike other countries, Americans are taxed not only as residents of the US but also as citizens, wherever they live.

Suddenly, some expats are waking up in a cold sweat. They have always had to file tax returns and disclose foreign accounts on a form called the FBAR, although in practice many didn't. But now Fatca means they have to be more rigorous or face huge fines, in the knowledge that the US authorities could know a lot more than they have in the past. » | Tom Geoghegan | BBC News, Washington | Friday, September 27, 2013