A Ford Motor Co. employee was suspended this week after calling President Donald Trump a “pedophile protector” during the president’s visit to a manufacturing plant in Dearborn, Michigan, an incident that was captured on video and widely shared on social media.
The worker, identified by news outlets as 40-year-old T.J. Sabula, shouted the remark on Tuesday while Trump was touring the Ford River Rouge complex ahead of an address to the Detroit Economic Club. Sabula later told The Washington Post he has “no regrets” about the comment and believes he may face job consequences as a result of it, Fox Business reported.
“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula told the Post. He added while he is concerned about the future of his job, he believes he was “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” he said. “And today I think I did that.”
Cellphone footage from the scene shows Trump responding to the heckling by pointing and giving a middle-finger gesture, and mouthing what appeared to be a profane phrase as he walked past the group of workers. The video was first posted online by TMZ and has since circulated widely.
Video and eyewitness accounts indicate Sabula’s comment referenced controversies surrounding Trump’s past social connections with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and disputes over the release of related government files.
Ford confirmed in a statement that Sabula was suspended pending an internal review of the incident, citing company policies on workplace conduct, though the automaker declined further comment on personnel matters.
Sabula, a member of United Auto Workers Local 600, said in interviews that he believes his suspension amounts to political retribution for embarrassing the president in front of other employees. He described himself as a political independent who has supported other Republican candidates in the past but not Trump.
The White House defended Trump’s reaction, with communications director Steven Cheung characterizing the worker’s behavior as aggressive and saying the president’s response was “appropriate.”
“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, Fox Business reported.
