Man who called Trump a ‘pedophile protector’ to his face speaks out after being suspended from job

President Donald Trump was caught on camera giving a man the middle finger during a visit to a Ford plant in Michigan, and the White House later said his reaction was “appropriate.”

Trump was touring the Ford facility when someone in the crowd shouted an insult directly at him. In the video, Trump appears to mouth the words “f**k you” and raises his middle finger toward the person who yelled at him. The footage, which was obtained by TMZ, shows the moment clearly, although the exact words shouted at Trump are not fully audible in the clip.

According to reports, the man who shouted at the president was calling him a “pedophile protector.” Fox News identified the man as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, a Ford worker at the plant. The accusation was widely understood to be a reference to Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, especially criticism over what some people believe was a slow or incomplete release of government files related to Epstein.

The Justice Department later released thousands of Epstein-related documents, but many parts were heavily blacked out. The redactions frustrated critics and even led former President Bill Clinton, who is mentioned in the files, to publicly call for the full release of all documents in the interest of transparency.

After the video of the confrontation spread online, Ford addressed the situation. David Tovar, Ford’s Executive Director of Corporate Communications, told CNN that the visit itself went well and that the company was proud of how its employees behaved overall. However, he emphasized that respect is a core value at Ford and that the company does not support inappropriate language or behavior inside its facilities. He explained that when something like this happens, Ford follows internal procedures but does not discuss individual employee cases publicly.

Those procedures resulted in Sabula being suspended from his job. Despite this, Sabula has made it clear that he does not regret what he did. In an interview with The Washington Post, he said he stands by his actions and has no remorse for calling out the president. He said Trump was about 60 feet away at the time and could hear him “very, very, very clearly.”

Sabula also claimed that he was targeted because of his political views and said he believes he was punished for embarrassing Trump in front of others. He described what happened as a rare moment where he felt compelled to speak up. He said that opportunities like that do not come often, and when they do, a person should take them. According to him, that is exactly what he did.

Online reactions to the incident have been mixed. Some people criticized Trump for responding with a rude gesture, while others felt the insult directed at him was unacceptable. On Reddit, some users praised Sabula, with one commenter saying that losing a job was a small price to pay for standing up to what they called the worst president in American history. Others joked that Sabula would be telling the story for years. It was also revealed that Sabula has a GoFundMe page to help support himself financially while he is out of work.

The White House later issued a statement defending Trump’s behavior. Communications Director Steven Cheung said the man shouting at the president was acting irrationally, screaming profanities in a fit of rage. He said Trump’s response was clear, firm, and appropriate given the circumstances.

LADbible Group has reached out to both the White House and Ford for further comment.