White House issues statement on man who called Trump ‘paedo protector’ | World | News
The White House has defended Donald Trump’s response to a heckler who called him a “paedophile protector” during a visit to a Ford factory. A person could be heard yelling something at the US president which included those two words during his visit to the car plant in Michigan on Tuesday (January 13).
Mr Trump, in a video published by TMZ, appeared to respond by mouthing “F*** you” at the person then raising his middle finger. White House spokesman Steven Cheung said today: “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union told CBS News the heckler – named by US media as TJ Sabula – was suspended by Ford.
UAW said in a statement: “He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.”
Since the foul-mouthed outburst, two GoFundMe pages have raised more than $700,000 (£521,000) for Mr Sabula from among 30,000 donors.
Mr Sabula reportedly outed himself as the person who shouted at the president, telling The Washington Post he didn’t regret what he said.
The publication reported that Mr Sabula yelled at the president over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which only a fraction have been made public despite a law ordering the US Department of Justice to release them all.
It was not the first time Mr Trump dropped an expletive when the cameras were rolling.
Mr Trump dropped an F-bomb in June last year when he expressed frustration over apparent violations of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
He told reporters at the White House: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
The Republican president is not the only US leader to be caught swearing.
When Joe Biden was Vice President, he told then US president Barack Obama the passing of the Affordable Care Act was a “big f****** deal”.
The remark was made next to a microphone which was still on. He swore again in 2022 when he said “no one “f**** with a Biden”.
