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President Donald Trump was caught on video appearing to mouth an expletive and make an obscene gesture toward a heckler during a visit to a Ford factory in Michigan Tuesday, a moment the White House later defended as an “appropriate and unambiguous response.”
The video, first published by TMZ, shows Trump briefly turning toward someone shouting from the crowd as he walked through the Ford River Rouge complex in Dearborn.
In the video, Trump appears to mouth the words “f— you” twice and gestures with his middle finger.
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TMZ reported that the exchange followed a heckler shouting an insult at the president off camera. The outlet described Trump’s reaction as “flipping the bird” while continuing to walk away.
White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the president’s reaction, telling Fox News Digital, “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
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A Ford worker who identified himself as the heckler said he was later suspended from his job pending an investigation into the incident.
TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker at the factory, told The Washington Post that he was the person shouting at Trump during the visit and said he has been suspended pending an internal investigation.
“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula told the outlet, while adding 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, who said he identifies as politically independent and has never voted for Trump, told The Washington Post that he has supported other Republican candidates in the past. He estimated that he was standing roughly 60 feet away from Trump at the time and said the president could hear him “very, very, very clearly.”
Trump visited the plant as part of a scheduled appearance focused on U.S. manufacturing and the auto industry when the exchange occurred during a tour of the factory.
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“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 to the Washington Post. “And today I think I did that.”
The White House did not specify who was shouting in the video, and Fox News Digital has not yet independently confirmed the identity of the individual who later claimed responsibility.
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