Ford Worker Suspended for Calling Trump a ‘Pedophile Protector’ Says He Has ‘No Regrets Whatsoever’

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

The auto worker who called President Donald Trump a “pedophile protector” during Trump’s visit to a Detroit Ford plant on Tuesday has been suspended from his position pending an investigation.

Following the incident on Tuesday, which saw 40-year-old TJ Sabula shout “Pedophile protector!” at Trump, before the president responded with a middle finger and a “f*ck you” the auto worker was reportedly suspended from his position.

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

Despite having no regrets about his choice of words for the president, Sabula did express concern over his future at the plant, claiming he had been “targeted for political retribution” for “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 said. “And today I think I did that.”

Sabula identified himself to the newspaper as a political independent and said that while he had never voted for the president, he had supported other Republican candidates.

In a statement addressing the heckling incident, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended Trump’s response, saying, “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”

During an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil at the plant, Trump claimed it was “a good thing” that Ford was struggling to find enough workers, suggesting that the auto workers would soon be replaced by robots.

“You’re gonna have a thing called robots, and robots are gonna be a big factor. I predict that robots are gonna be a big factor in the future and it’s gonna help out,” he said.