Trump Flips the Bird at Dearborn Heckler Who Called Him a ‘Pedophile Protector’ [WATCH]

President Donald Trump was captured on video appearing to mouth an expletive and make an obscene gesture toward a heckler during a visit to a Ford manufacturing facility in Michigan on Tuesday, an interaction the White House later defended as a justified response to a verbal outburst.

The video, first published by TMZ, shows Trump walking through the Ford River Rouge complex in Dearborn when he briefly turns toward someone shouting from the crowd.

In the footage, Trump appears to mouth the words “f**k you” twice and raises his middle finger before continuing on without stopping.

TMZ reported that the exchange occurred after an unidentified individual shouted an insult at the president from off camera.

The outlet described Trump’s reaction as “flipping the bird” while continuing to move through the facility.

White House communications director Steven Cheung addressed the incident in a statement to Fox News Digital, defending the president’s conduct.

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“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” Cheung said.

Following the release of the video, a Ford employee publicly identified himself as the individual who shouted at Trump and said he was subsequently suspended pending an internal investigation by the company.

TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker at the Ford facility, told The Washington Post that he was the person who yelled at Trump during the visit. Sabula said Ford management suspended him while the company reviews the incident.

“As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” Sabula told the newspaper.

He added that he is worried about his job and believes he has been “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends.”

Sabula told The Washington Post that he considers himself politically independent and said he has never voted for Trump, though he claimed to have supported other Republican candidates in the past.

He estimated that he was standing approximately 60 feet away from the president at the time of the incident and said Trump could hear him “very, very, very clearly.”

Trump was visiting the Ford River Rouge complex as part of a scheduled appearance focused on U.S. manufacturing and the domestic auto industry.

The exchange took place during a walking tour of the plant, where Trump was meeting with workers and viewing operations.

Sabula described the moment as intentional, telling the newspaper that he felt compelled to speak out when the opportunity arose.

“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” Sabula told The Washington Post.

“And today I think I did that.”

The White House has not identified the individual who shouted at the president in the video, and Fox News Digital reported that it has not independently confirmed Sabula’s claim that he was the heckler involved in the exchange.