Op-Ed

Rosie O’Donnell Could Be Facing Prison Time And A $12 MILLION FINE For Bribery

Rosie O'Donnell Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil

Gregg Re Contributor
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After ex-comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s meltdown on Twitter before the Senate’s big tax vote Tuesday night, President Donald Trump might seek to direct federal authorities to lock her up — and even to “take some money out of her fat-ass pockets,” which he once infamously cited as a personal goal.

Starting a few hours before the legislation passed, O’Donnell tweeted:

Even after another Twitter user, Louise Mensch, replied that O’Donnell was irresponsibly advocating bribery, O’Donnell doubled down.

Federal law addresses O’Donnell’s actions.

18 U.S. Code § 201 criminalizes the attempted bribery of federal officials by whoever “directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official … with intent to influence any official act.”

The penalty? For Rosie, she could spend up to 15 years in jail, suffer a lifetime ban from elective office and pay up to $12 million:

The statute calls for a fine of “not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be
disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”

In court, O’Donnell would probably argue that her attempted bribe was in jest, or perhaps a syndrome of a mental illness. These defenses would likely prevail — albeit only after O’Donnell would finally be forced to admit she was simply causing a scene.

After all, her attorneys would argue, who, while seriously attempting to bribe members of the U.S. Congress would do so in such a reckless, public manner that would all but ensure a conviction?

Perhaps, prosecutors would counter, the same person who would publicly post this:

Or this:

Or this:

If O’Donnell wasn’t being serious, she had several opportunities to clarify her intentions or back down. Instead, she persisted:

As of Wednesday morning, O’Donnell had pinned her tweet to the top of her account.

Gregg Re is a handsome, jovial attorney.


The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.