The White House has responded after video of U.S. President Donald Trump giving the middle finger to a heckler while he toured a Ford plant in Michigan emerged on Tuesday.
The footage, initially shared by celebrity site TMZ, shows Trump appearing to make the hand gesture and mouth the words “f–k you,” towards the heckling plant employee, who is not in frame.
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung.
According to the TMZ video, the president gave the person the middle finger after the heckler yelled “Pedophile protector!” at him.
A Ford spokesperson told TMZ that they were generally satisfied with their employees’ reception of the president, but that protocols are in place to manage misconduct.
While it does not condone “anyone saying anything inappropriate” in its facilities, “when that happens, we have a process to deal with it but we don’t get into specific personnel matters,” the spokesperson said.
In an interview with the Washington Post, the heckler was identified as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, a United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 600 line worker at the plant.
“As far as calling him out, no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula told the outlet, saying he’s also concerned for his job.
Get breaking National news
He has been suspended from his position, pending an investigation into what took place. The UAW posted a message to social media to support him.
A GoFundMe, titled “TJ Sabula is a patriot!!” has been started for Sabula, with more than $250,000 raised as of Wednesday morning.
The president was visiting the assembly plant to see how the manufacturer’s F-150 trucks are built ahead of a speech at the Detroit Economic Club.
Trump’s visit comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the legality of his tariffs and amid claims that, under his leadership, the U.S. economy has boomed, thanks to the country’s economic sanctions on trade partners.
“Our Nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is predicted to come in at over 5%, and that is after losing at least 1.5% to the Democrat “Shutdown.” These incredible numbers, and the unprecedented SUCCESS of our Country, are a direct result of TARIFFS, which have rescued our Economy and National Security,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“A Manufacturing Renaissance and soaring Household Incomes are powering GDP gains that have not been seen in decades,” he wrote in a separate post.
The heckling also comes amid mounting pressure from both Democrats and Republicans to release the Epstein files, a series of documents containing information about the disgraced New York financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and other high-profile public figures.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department revealed it had 5.2 million pages of Epstein files left to review and needed 400 lawyers from four different department offices to help with the process through late January, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.
The review will occur from Jan. 5 to Jan. 23, the document added.
So far, the Epstein file disclosures have been heavily redacted.
Comments