The auto worker who called Donald Trump a “pedophile protector” says he does not regret the action that has seen him suspended from his job.
TJ Sabula, 40, shouted “pedophile protector” at Trump on Tuesday during a visit to the Ford plant in Detroit.
After hearing the insult, an angry Trump pointed his finger and said “f--- you” to Sabula twice before flipping the bird at the worker.
“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula told The Washington Post.
He has now been suspended from his position pending an investigation.
Sabula told the Post he believes he had been “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”
He added that he was standing around 60 feet from Trump who could hear him “very, very, very clearly” and confirmed his insult was in reference to Trump’s handling of the Epstein files.
“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.”
Sabula said he has never voted for Trump, but has supported other Republican candidates. He identifies as a political independent.
The Daily Beast has contacted Sabula for further comment.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said earlier that, “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
The president was touring Ford’s River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan Tuesday afternoon before delivering a speech at the Detroit Economic Club.
Ford told the Daily Beast that “we had a great event today” and that “we’re proud of how our employees represented Ford” in a statement.
“We’ve seen the clip you’re referring to. One of our core values is respect and we don’t condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities. When that happens, we have a process to deal with it but we don’t get into specific personnel matters.”
Sabula’s public insult to Trump highlights the fact that the president’s connection to child sex offender Epstein remains a contentious issue among American citizens.
Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files, but after being elected, he pushed back on the documents being made public.
The 79-year-old had once been close to the disgraced financier, who died in jail in 2019. The botched rollout of the Epstein files has seen him alienate some MAGA supporters, including members of his own party.
Rogue Republican Thomas Massie has remained militant about having all the files made available, and he also threatened Attorney General Pam Bondi with contempt of Congress over missing multiple deadlines to release overdue documents.
Trump’s handling of the Epstein files release was also called out by his one-time ally, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene claimed that after she had repeatedly rallied for the contents of the files to be made public, Trump told her, “My friends will get hurt.” Trump has since split ties with the outspoken Greene.
This month, the Department of Justice submitted court filings that reveal over 2 million files relating to Epstein have yet to be released and remain in “various phases of review.”
The DOJ said it has released around 12,285 documents so far, many of which have been heavily redacted.
