By Natalie Allison, Dan MericaThe Washington Post
President Donald Trump made an obscene gesture with his middle finger and mouthed an expletive to a factory employee who shouted at him during a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan on Tuesday – a reaction the White House said was “appropriate” given the heckling.
Now the autoworker is off the job and online fundraising in his support has generated more than $800,000 in pledged financial support.
A cellphone video captured Trump, who was visiting the Ford F-150 plant in Dearborn, twice mouthing “f— you” as he pointed to someone calling up to him from the factory floor below. The president subsequently raised his middle finger toward the heckler as he continued walking. He then waved.
Out of frame in the video, a person can be heard yelling “pedophile protector” just before Trump mouthed the insult – an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s handling of the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
White House communications director Steven Cheung confirmed that the scene captured in the video was authentic.
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” Cheung said in a statement to The Washington Post.
The incident was not the first of its kind in modern memory. In 1976, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (R) was photographed raising his middle finger toward university students in Upstate New York.
TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker at the factory, told The Post that he was the one who shouted at Trump. He said he has been suspended from work pending an investigation.
“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula said, though he added that he is concerned about the future of his job and believes he has been “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
Sabula identifies as politically independent and said he never voted for Trump but has supported other Republicans. He estimated that he was roughly 60 feet away from Trump on Tuesday and that the president could hear him “very, very, very clearly.” He said he was specifically referencing Trump’s handling of the Epstein matter.
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” Sabula said. “And today I think I did that.”
An online fundraiser was started Tuesday evening that sought to raise money for Sabula after his suspension.
“Let’s rally and support TJ and help him pay some bills,” read the description of the GoFundMe fundraiser, which had collected just over $330,000 as of late Thursday morning. A second GoFundMe account was at more than $480,000 as of late Thursday morning.
Trump toured the factory before giving a speech at the Detroit Economic Club. Elsewhere on the tour, Ford workers could be seen cheering and taking selfies with the president.
Officials at Ford did not respond to a request for comment. Trump was joined during the tour by Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman and the grandson of Henry Ford, and Jim Farley, the company’s president and CEO.
Trump has faced criticism from Democrats – and in some cases from within his MAGA movement – for dismissing the federal investigation into Epstein. The president has also repeatedly referred to that investigation as a “hoax.”
Trump was friends with Epstein and traveled in the same social circles before cutting ties in the early 2000s. He initially opposed legislation requiring the Justice Department to release its files on Epstein. After it became clear last year that Republicans did not have the votes to block the effort, Trump said he would no longer oppose releasing the files.
Trump has not been accused of participating in Epstein’s criminal conduct.
