A man who faced suspension from his job after accusing Donald Trump of being a ‘pedophile protector’ has received overwhelming financial support from the public.
On January 13, during a visit to a Michigan Ford plant, President Trump was confronted by an employee who heckled him with the accusation.
TMZ captured the moment on video, showing the man shouting at Trump, calling him a ‘pedophile protector.’ Trump appeared to respond by giving him the middle finger.
The man’s comments were reportedly in reference to the perceived delay in releasing documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The individual in question, identified as TJ Sabula, aged 40, was subsequently suspended from his job at Ford.
Sabula has since spoken about the incident and remains unfazed by his suspension.
Expressing that he had ‘no regrets’ about his actions, Sabula told The Washington Post: “As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever.”
He also mentioned that Trump could hear him ‘very, very, very clearly’ and suggested he was dismissed due to ‘political retribution’ after ’embarrassing Trump in front of his friends’.
“I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” he added. “And today I think I did that.”
The White House reacted to the event by describing Sabula as a ‘lunatic’.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who recently criticized Mark Ruffalo, stated: “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
Following Sabula’s suspension, a GoFundMe campaign was launched on his behalf, and it has amassed $355,474 at the time of writing.
The description for the fundraiser states: “Please help us raise funds for patriot TJ Sabula!! TJ was suspended from his job at the Ford Automotive Company for correctly calling President Donald J Trump a Pedophile Protector!!
“Let’s rally and support TJ and help him pay some bills (and force DJT to release the Trump/Epstein Files) LFG!!”
The campaign was started by Sean Williams, and he has transferred control of it to Sabula.
After the video gained traction on social media, Ford’s Executive Director of Corporate Communications, David Tovar, informed CNN that they were aware of the clip, stating: “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.”