Rosie O’Donnell is once again upset with President Donald Trump. This time, it’s about the World Cup.
O’Donnell, 64, was livid that Trump reached out to FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask the organization to review the decision to give U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun a red card. The red card meant Balogun would have been suspended for the team’s knockout match against Belgium on Monday, but FIFA decided to suspend the one-game ban after Trump’s call.
“The fact that he called up FIFA and had the penalty revoked for the American team and America was like, ‘Yeah, that’s good! I didn’t think it was a red card anyway!’ Well, you’re not the freakin’ ref! You don’t get to decide!” O’Donnell told Variety.
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“Since when does he get to make and change the rules, the goalposts, whatever metaphor you want to use, and everyone just sits by and shrugs their shoulders? There’s so much (corruption) that we don’t even notice it.”
O’Donnell said she was “horrified” by Trump’s reaching out to FIFA. She also condemned the USMNT’s coach, Mauricio Pochettino, and Balogun for not self-imposing a suspension once FIFA postponed theirs.
“The fact that (Balogun) did not say, ‘I will not play this game,’ and the fact that the coach of the American team did not say, ‘This is not how we win,’ and that everyone was just like, ‘Well, whatever!’ I was horrified,” O’Donnell said.
“I’m horrified that he is able to get away with pretty much everything, and it’s sickening.”
O’Donnell was one of many media figures who melted down over Trump’s involvement with the decision. Trump addressed the controversy in the Oval Office on Monday.
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“All I did was, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” the president said. “And again, I’m good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that would be different.
“I think it’s a terrible… if they wouldn’t allow a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best on the team, to play, I think it would have had a big stain. I relayed it. I didn’t tell him what to do. I don’t believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision because, No. 1, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”
Trump said he took issue with the initial red card that was assessed to Balogun in the first place.
“If you would have taken him out, I think it would have really stained this incredible championship,” Trump continued. “We gotta have our best players and Belgium, Belgium’s got a great team by the way. We have our best players and they have to have their best. If we win or we lose, it’s fair. Otherwise, let’s say we lost to them, then we lost the game. It would be a terrible thing. I think they made a really brilliant decision.
“I think the referee’s call was horrible and nobody talks about that. They talk about the red card like it’s fine. The referee’s decision to red card, I didn’t know what the hell a red card was and when I found out I said, ‘You gotta be kidding.’… I said, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of power, that’s terrible.’ And then I looked at his past and it wasn’t so great.”
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While Balogun was able to play, the USMNT lost 4-1 to Belgium on Monday night, ending their World Cup run in the Round of 16.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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