The White House said it was “appropriate” for President Donald Trump to flip off and curse at a Ford plant worker in Michigan after the worker shouted “pedophile protector” at him.
The exchange took place on Tuesday while Trump was touring the Ford plant ahead of his speech at the Detroit Economic Club. Video of the incident, first reported by TMZ, shows Trump walking along a second-floor rail when the worker yells at him from below. Trump stops and appears to point at his detractor, mouth “f––– you” and then raise his middle finger.
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The United Auto Workers confirmed to MS NOW that the worker has since been suspended, but not fired.
The union did not confirm the identity of the person, but TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old UAW Local 600 worker, told The Washington Post he was the one who shouted at Trump. Sabula said he had “no regrets whatsoever” but was concerned about his job. He said that the incident was being investigated internally and that he believes he is being “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
The UAW did not confirm to MS NOW that the worker is under investigation by Ford.
The worker’s comment appears to be a reference to the controversy over the Jeffrey Epstein files, which have become a massive headache for Trump. He has sought to distance himself from his past friendship with the late convicted sex offender — the two men had a falling out in the 2000s — and dismissed the controversy as a Democratic “hoax.”
Although he initially tried to kill legislation to compel the Justice Department to release all of the files from its Epstein investigation, Trump ultimately reversed course after immense pressure from his base and signed it into law.
The controversy continues to trail Trump, however, and any mention of it at his public appearances seems to exasperate him — as it did on Tuesday.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.