President Donald Trump was captured on video flipping off a factory worker and mouthing an expletive after the person shouted at him during a tour of the Ford F-150 plant in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday.
How did Trump respond to a heckling worker?
Cell phone footage captured Trump mouthing “f**k you” twice and flipping off the worker, who was not seen in the video, yelling, “pedophile protector” in response to the Trump administration’s handling of the investigation into the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to The Washington Post.
A White House official said Trump’s response was “appropriate” based on the worker’s actions in the now-viral video.
“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 to The Washington Post.
The factory worker said he has ‘no regrets whatsoever’ about what he said to Trump
The heckler, identified as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, is a line worker and a member of United Auto Workers Local 600. He confirmed to the outlet that he was the one who shouted at Trump and had “no regrets” in what he said to him.
“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula said, noting his concern about his job status and that he believes he is being “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
Ford responded to the incident in a statement, saying the company would look into the matter further.
“We had a great event today, and we’re proud of how our employees represented Ford. We’ve seen the clip you’re referring to. One of our core values is respect, and we don’t condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities. When that happens, we have a process to deal with it, but we don’t get into specific personnel matters,” the statement reads, according to ClickOnDetroit.
What are Michigan lawmakers saying?
Sabula has been suspended pending Ford’s investigation into the incident. Several lawmakers spoke out about the situation, noting that the company had responded differently to what workers had said to other presidents in the past.
“Ford said they can’t talk about it because it’s a human resources issue,” Tlaib said. “In the past, when President Obama (went) onto the plant floor and other times people have said some terrible things, they didn’t get fired,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said after a conversation with a source at the union about the incident, per Michigan Advance.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., told the outlet that she would follow up with Ford about Sabula’s employment and whether the investigation violates his free speech rights.
“When you’re on a factory floor with union members that have strong feelings, you need to be prepared for whatever they’re gonna say, and I hope they’re not firing him because I believe in free speech,” Dingell said. “The UAW worker was expressing his right to free speech, and I’m asking questions as to what has happened.”