President Donald Trump flipped the middle finger Tuesday to a person who could be heard calling him a “pedophile protector” while he toured a Ford truck factory in Michigan.
In video shared by TMZ, Trump points to a person who is not seen in the frame and mouths some words. He then flashes his middle finger in that person’s direction.
Trump was touring the factory in Dearborn before delivering a speech in Detroit on the U.S. economy.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement Tuesday night, “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
In response to a request for comment, Ford spokesperson David Tovar said 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.”
Trump has been mentioned in the Epstein files the Justice Department has released so far as a result of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
One of the records released last month included an email saying flight logs show Trump flew on Epstein’s plane at least eight times in the 1990s, including once with a 20-year-old woman, who was not named.
Authorities have not accused Trump of any wrongdoing, and he and the White House have repeatedly said he did nothing wrong.
The Justice Department said after the email was published that some of the documents it has released “contain untrue and sensationalist claims,” which it called “unfounded and false.”
