Kathy Griffin Suggests Donald Trump Should Take ‘Syringe With Nothing But Air Inside It’

Kathy Griffin is making her strong dislike of President Donald Trump known, firing off a controversial tweet suggesting his death Tuesday before deleting it amid a wave of backlash. The same day Trump decried Twitter’s new fact-checking feature as violating his freedom of speech, Griffin was accused of going too far on the social media platform, with many users calling for the Secret Service to investigate her.

The contentious tweet from Griffin came as a response to CNN’s Jake Tapper, who tweeted a quote from Trump at a White House diabetes event Tuesday where he said, “I don’t use insulin. Should I be?” Griffin added in her tweet, “Syringe with nothing but air inside it would do the trick,” referencing a method of inducing a venous air embolism, which can heart attack, stroke, or respiratory failure.

Many Twitter users accused Griffin of threatening the president with her tweet, which she repeatedly defended to people criticizing it and tagging the Secret Service. The tweet was soon deleted, although it’s unclear if the comedian deleted the message or if it was deleted by the platform.

This isn’t Griffin’s first time being accused of threatening Trump’s life. In 2017, she was played on the no-fly list and investigated by the Secret Service after appearing in a photo holding the fake head of Trump dripping with what appeared to be blood. The picture was widely condemned, with Griffin losing endorsement deals, her comedy tour, and her role on the New Year’s Eve special with Anderson Cooper.

“My little story is historic,” she told CBS News in March 2019. “Whether you like it or not, it’s the first time a sitting United States president has used the full power of the Oval Office, the first family, the right-wing media and, more importantly, two departments within the Department of Justice to open an investigation on a private citizen who did nothing wrong. Didn’t violate the First Amendment, didn’t break the law.”

Griffin has since bounced back from the scandal, going on a world tour titled Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story. Asked if she would pose for the photo again, however, Griffin said no. “I think a lot of people would love it if I said, ‘Oh, I wish I had never taken that picture. I wish I had never cursed. I wish I had never made this comment or that comment,’” she responded, adding that the “most important” thing is that long after she dies, people” see the crazy red-haired lady didn’t go down.”