Rosie O'Donnell Wrote to Irish Leader After Trump White House Gibe

Comedian Rosie O'Donnell has said she wrote to Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin after President Donald Trump used a White House Oval Office meeting between the two men to berate her.

Newsweek has contacted O'Donnell for comment via the inquiry form on her official website.

Why It Matters

O'Donnell, a long-standing Trump critic, moved to Ireland in January following the Republican's 2024 presidential election victory. She has said she doesn't plan to move back to the U.S. until "it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there."

The incident serves as another illustration of how Trump's unusually blunt diplomatic style often differs from leaders across the Western world.

What To Know

On St. Patrick's Day, Trump hosted the Irish head of government in the Oval Office, where the pair took questions from the press.

Martin was asked about O'Donnell's move to Ireland but appeared confused, and Trump asked, "Do you know who she is?" The president then added, "You're better off not knowing."

Appearing on Irish broadcaster RTE's The Late Late Show on Friday, O'Donnell told host Patrick Kielty that she had written to Martin after the incident.

"I felt very troubled that they put the Taoiseach in that position and didn't treat him with the respect that a leader of that kind deserves when they're visiting the White House," O'Donnell said.

She added, "I wrote the Taoiseach with a little note, apology to his email, and got a note back that they had received it and thanked me. But I just wanted him to know the history and what happened and why he seems to be out to get me in ways that are startling to most."

In 2006, Trump described O'Donnell as "a woman out of control" and "a real loser" after she criticized his business acumen while co-hosting ABC's The View.

O'Donnell was also asked about the St. Patrick's Day White House visit of Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor, who used the occasion to criticize what he termed an "illegal immigration racket." McGregor has since announced that he hopes to run for the Irish presidency.

O'Donnell said, "It seems very strange to me that the president of the United States has so many friends who are sexual abusers."

In November, a jury at Dublin's High Court found McGregor liable for rape in a civil case and ordered him to pay 250,000 euros in damages. McGregor is appealing the judgment.

In January 2024, Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll after a New York court concluded that he had defamed her by denying that he had sexually assaulted her in a department store changing room in the mid-1990s and accusing her of lying about the incident. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

What People Are Saying

Rosie O'Donnell said on The Late Late Show on Friday: "Well, there's the president of the United States that has it out for me and has for 20 years. When I told the truth about him on a program called The View—where it was my job to talk about pop culture and politics—I mentioned his bankruptcies, and I mentioned all of the sexual assault charges, and I mentioned that he was not, in fact, the businessman everyone thinks he is. …

"He was very angry, to say the least, and he hasn't let it go, and he sort of uses me as a punch line whenever he feels the need."

What Happens Next

It remains to be seen whether the feud between Trump and O'Donnell will continue at the same intensity now that the pair is separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

Elsewhere in U.S.-Ireland relations, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick hit out earlier this week at what he said was Ireland's "tax scam" that cost the United States trillions of dollars, raising the prospect of retaliatory measures by the Trump administration.