Rosie O'Donnell slams President Donald Trump over his response to coronavirus

Rosie O’Donnell laid into U.S. President Donald Trump in a new interview over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 57-year-old comedian and TV star spoke out in a new interview on the TMX News platform about the president’s early flippancy and the shortage of test kits in America. 

She said: ‘There’s tremendous confusion and that it comes right from President Trump. That’s where the confusion comes from and it started from him saying it was a hoax and that it was a Democratic hoax.’  

The feud goes on: Rosie O’Donnell laid into U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter this Thursday for his response to the coronavirus pandemic

During a February rally in South Carolina the president claimed Democrats were trying to politicize the virus by bashing his administration’s response, characterizing the criticism as ‘their new hoax’. 

Rosie said: ‘At that, you know, level of crises that he would chose to go that way, I mean, he really is such a disappointment to so many on so many different levels, and in November I think America will use their voices loud and strong and vote him out.’

America’s government has come under fire for neglecting to conduct mass coronavirus testing early in the pandemic, and for making the kits domestically rather than using World Hearth Organization tests.

The government has authorized Thermo Fisher to make tests and this Monday the company’s CEO claimed there were ‘about 1.5 million tests in stock. We began shipping them yesterday and today.’

For a cause: Broadway has gone dark as part of social distancing, and so Rosie will be reviving her iconic talk-show for a single episode to benefit The Actors Fund

CEO Marc Casper said on CNBC: ‘But we’re ramping up to about 2 million tests in production a week, and then over the course of April we’ll be able to get that to about 5 million tests a week in terms of production.’

Rosie insisted that ‘we needed the test kits months ago’ and said: ‘You know, no one ever answered why he decided not to take the World Health Organization tests. I think it was for him to try to make money on making the tests in the United States.’

She added: ‘We’re looking forward to a time when the nation has a leader that they can trust, that they can believe, who doesn’t lie to them, and that will I think cause a lot of people comfort. The fact that there is no federal leadership is adding to the anxiety that the country has.’

Rosie’s remarks come as she announced how she is doing her part to mitigate the economic fallout from the global pandemic.

Throwback: The Rosie O’Donnell Show lasted six seasons from 1996 to 2002; the hostess is pictured on a 1998 episode with Madonna

Broadway has gone dark as part of social distancing, and so Rosie will be reviving her iconic talk-show for a single episode to benefit The Actors Fund.

This one-off episode will be live-streamed by Broadway.com this Sunday night at 7pm EST, as well as on the website’s YouTube channel.

Her co-producer on the event is Erich Bergen, who has acted in Waitress on Broadway and in the movie adaptation of the stage musical Jersey Boys.

She has assembled a formidable cast of talent that will all stick to social distancing guidelines by joining the live-stream from home.

What a night: Rosie will be reviving her iconic talk-show for a single episode to benefit The Actors Fund, assembling Broadway stars including Neil Patrick Harris (pictured)

Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth, Gloria Estefan, Darren Criss and Jesse Tyler Ferguson will all be part of the extravaganza.

Longtime couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick will join in, as will Audra McDonald and Katharine McPhee.

Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz, who like Kristin became stars in the original Broadway cast of Wicked, have also been tapped for the project.

The Rosie O’Donnell Show lasted six seasons from 1996 to 2002 and its original music director John McDaniel is coming back for the new charity special.