Rosie O'Donnell Slams Trump Over Foreign Payment Report—'Lock Him Up'

Rosie O'Donnell has slammed Donald Trump, following a new report that the former president received millions of dollars from foreign countries while in office.

On Thursday, House Democrats unveiled a report outlining how Trump's businesses, including his now-closed hotel in Washington, D.C., allegedly profited in the millions of dollars during the Trump presidency, from 2017 to 2021.

The report, titled "White House for Sale" and released by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, alleged that real estate mogul Trump received at least $7.8 million from at least 20 foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Trump's alleged profits were in "direct violation" of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, which bars elected officials from receiving money from foreign governments without permission from Congress, the report said.

The report stems from a years-long investigation launched in 2016, when Trump was first elected, into whether his business transactions with foreign governments violated that constitutional clause.

"The presidency became the fulfillment of a get-rich-quick campaign he
reportedly described as 'the greatest infomercial in political history,'" the report states.

The report found that China, whose relationship with the U.S. has been strained in recent years, paid roughly $5.5 million to Trump's businesses, including payments from the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Hainan Airlines Holding Co.

"As a candidate, Donald Trump accused China of stealing U.S. jobs, orchestrating 'the greatest theft in the history of the world,' and 'raping' the United States with its trade policy," the report says. "In office, however, President Trump's public rhetoric and engagement with the P.R.C. initially softened."

"While then-President Trump's policies toward the P.R.C. were frequently inconsistent, they repeatedly deviated from the combative approach he articulated when he made China bashing a pillar of his 2016 campaign," the report says.

Frequent Trump critic O'Donnell weighed in on the matter on Thursday, writing "lock him up" in response to a post about the report on X, formerly Twitter.

Hours later, comedian O'Donnell took to her TikTok account, where she briefly addressed the report, and urged her followers to "vote blue" against "criminal" Trump, who is the Republican frontrunner challenging President Joe Biden's bid for a second term.

Addressing the allegations, the A League of Their Own star said in the video: "Is that enough for everybody out there? When's it going to be enough? Does anyone know? Better be soon. The guy's a criminal, start to finish. Always has been, always will be. No way he should be able to run for president—no way.

"Remember, you've got to vote," O'Donnell went on, before going on to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

"Abortion is healthcare," she told her followers. "If you're angry, for yourself, for your daughters, for your granddaughters, get in there and vote. Vote blue. It's vital. Save democracy. Is that so wrong to save democracy?"

Newsweek has contacted Trump's presidential campaign for comment via email.

War of Words

For several years, O'Donnell and Trump have been engaged in a public feud, which began in 2006 when the comedian criticized him on ABC's The View, which she formerly co-hosted.

O'Donnell slammed Trump for not firing Miss USA winner Tara Conner, who admitted to drug use and underage drinking. Former The Apprentice star Trump responded by calling O'Donnell "a loser" and "fat."

During a segment on The View, O'Donnell said she didn't "enjoy" Trump, alleged that he was actually bankrupt and described him as a "snake oil salesman on Little House on the Prairie."

At the time, Trump rebuked her statements, saying she was "a woman out of control."

"You can't make false statements. Rosie will rue the words she said," he added. "I'll most likely sue her for making those false statements—and it'll be fun. Rosie's a loser. A real loser. I look forward to taking lots of money from my nice fat little Rosie."

The pair's feud has continued since then, with each taking regular shots at the other over the years.

O'Donnell has called the former president "the dumbest human living" and a "creepy fascist." Trump, who is known for attacking those he disagrees with on a regular basis, has called O'Donnell a "mentally sick woman, a bully, a dummy and, above all, a loser" and someone with "no talent and no persona."

Back in August 2022, O'Donnell said that people who continue to support Trump are "willfully blind," further branding the one-term president "the worst person to ever hold that office."

"So I think America has come to understand his true essence and he doesn't have quite the following that he used to and people have woken up to the illusion of Donald Trump," she said. "Because that's what it was—an illusion created by Mark Burnett on The Celebrity Apprentice that he was somehow some sort of successful businessman, which he never was.

"He got all his money from his dad, who was a slumlord, and his company was mostly logo-slapping, not building."