{"id":408438,"date":"2026-01-14T10:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408438\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T10:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:31:13","slug":"michigan-visit-trump-appears-to-flip-someone-off-at-a-ford-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408438\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan visit: Trump appears to flip someone off at a Ford plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd6fbky002y26qi3mk9c5j4@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            President Donald Trump appeared to flip someone off as he toured a Michigan Ford plant in an incident caught on video Tuesday, and the White House defended the action as an \u201cappropriate\u201d response to someone screaming at the commander-in-chief.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd6fguj00033b6p53kyktt1@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cA lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,\u201d White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd6fguj00043b6pzld8ybjh@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            A 30-second video, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/01\/13\/trump-flips-off-ford-worker\/?utm_sf_cserv_ref=16331010&amp;adid=social-tw&amp;utm_sf_post_ref=650836543\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">obtained by TMZ<\/a>, shows someone yelling in the president\u2019s direction, though it is unclear exactly what that person is saying. TMZ reported that person appeared to yell \u201cpedophile protector\u201d at the president.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd6fguj00053b6pexvqrosx@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The video then shows the president pointing to the factory floor a few times as he continues to walk through part of the factory. He then appears to flip off someone on the factory floor with his right hand.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd6fguj00063b6pzdzlmbyy@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            A second video is then played showing what appears to be a more zoomed in shot of the same interaction. It also shows what TMZ suggests is a person yelling \u201cpedophile protector\u201d at the president while he is standing in one place.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd6fguj00073b6pjhe7qo4x@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            In the TMZ video, the president appears to respond by pointing at the person and mouthing or saying \u201cfuck you\u201d twice.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdeq9uj00003b639xixs3i3@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n             TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old line worker at the plant, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/01\/13\/trump-ford-factory-heckler-detroit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a> he was the person shouting at the president. He told the Post he has been suspended from work pending an investigation.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdeqyv400063b636fae0z3c@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cAs far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,\u201d Sabula told the Post.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdf142b000c3b63mptdj3kl@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            CNN has reached out to Sabula for comment.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkd8ate200003b6pfvbao5oz@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cWe had a great event today and we\u2019re proud of how our employees represented Ford,\u201d Ford\u2019s Executive Director of Corporate Communications David Tovar said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the clip you\u2019re referring to. One of our core values is respect and we don\u2019t condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities. When that happens, we have a process to deal with it but we don\u2019t get into specific personnel matters.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdest4h00093b63udd1l0z2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Sabula estimated to the Post that Trump could hear him \u201cvery, very, very clearly\u201d and said he was specifically referencing the president\u2019s handling of the matter around the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdf3ywk000f3b635ip6a3w5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Since Trump returned to the White House, his Justice Department has promised, reneged, and then promised again to deliver new and potentially explosive evidence on Epstein\u2019s alleged underworld of pedophilia.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdfhk2g000q3b63f6byeuam@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The Justice Department has released thousands of files related to Epstein after Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/11\/18\/politics\/epstein-files-vote-house\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">passed a law<\/a> forcing the Trump administration to do so, but the department is still struggling to process the massive trove of files, CNN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/01\/13\/politics\/epstein-files-justice-department-prosecutors-grind\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">previously reported<\/a>.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdfe69p000i3b63onh8a3ts@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing or charged with any crimes in connection with Epstein.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmkdequht00043b639peu12r5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            This story has been updated with additional details.\n    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump appeared to flip someone off as he toured a Michigan Ford plant in an incident&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-408438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}