If there's one thing you can say about President Donald Trump, it's that he knows how to work a crowd. Typically manoeuvering through even the hardest of questions, these awkward moments have given the world some of his most iconic soundbites.
With clips of him talking about eating cats and dogs, blaming the deadly Potomac River crash on DEI, and ill-timed mentions of 'exploding' paper straws going viral, the President of the United States is no stranger to breaking the internet.
Shortly after he left jaws on the floor when he got up from his own White House meeting to admire his own $400 million ballroom, Donald Trump has again grabbed headlines. The end of last year saw the POTUS drawn into allegations that he called one reporter 'piggy' when she questioned him on Jeffrey Epstein, and now, his relationship with the shamed financier has apparently been brought up again during a tense exchange.
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TMZ has shared footage of Trump touring a Ford factory in Michigan. From somewhere out of shot, it sounds like someone shouts, "pedophile protector." This is caught by Trump, who appears to mouth, "F**k you," and then flip them the bird.
In a statement to TMZ, White House spokesperson Steven Cheung dodged the issue of the middle finger but said: "A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response."
There have been questions about Trump's connections to the convicted pedophile, with the Department of Justice speaking out on the temporary removal of a photograph including the POTUS in the deluge of Epstein file releases.
There have been further grilling about Donald Trump when it appeared that you could easily unredact the masses of redacted sections in the files. Still, the president and the White House have denied any wrongdoing on his behalf.
Despite promises that the Epstein files would be released in full, January court filings claim less than 1% have been made public.
As for the factory exchange, a Ford spokesperson told the outlet that while they're normally proud of their employees and feel it was a 'great event', the automobile company doesn't condone “anyone saying anything inappropriate."
Ford added: "When that happens, we have a process to deal with it, but we don’t get into specific personnel matters."
The latest update claims that the worker has now been suspended pending an investigation, although a GoFundMe has been set up in their honor. That person has since been identified as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, who says he has 'no regrets' about what he said to President Trump.
Interestingly, he's referred to himself as politically independent and said that while he's reported previous Republican Party candidates, he's never voted for Trump.
The United Auto Workers Union has also confirmed that Sabula has been suspended.