OAN Staff Cory Hawkins
12:47 PM – Wednesday, January 14, 2026
A Ford employee has been suspended after a video depicting an exchange with President Donald Trump exploded online following the president’s visit to Ford Motor’s Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
During Trump’s visit to the Ford F-150 factory on Tuesday, an autoworker named TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old line worker and member of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 600, heckled the president causing Trump to respond to the worker.
Video footage published by TMZ showed Trump pausing on a second-floor walkway, pointing at Sabula, mouthing “f*** you” and raising his middle finger before continuing the tour.
Ford Motor Company suspended Sabula without pay pending an internal investigation, citing a violation of company values and workplace conduct policies. The UAW confirmed the suspension but did not specify its duration. Sabula expressed no regrets, reporting he acted out of conviction related to the Epstein case.
The White House defended Trump’s reaction, calling it “appropriate and clear.”
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told The Washington Post.
Trump visited the factory, where over half of the F-150 trucks in the U.S. are produced, ahead of a planned speech before the Detroit Economic Club. The visit was reported as positive according to Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford.
“He loves Ford, which is great. He really wanted to come here and thank us for our industrial capability and also for building the best-selling vehicle in America,” Ford told the Detroit Free Press. “It was a great visit. Any time you have the president of the United States come to see you, it’s a good thing.”
When asked about the incident, Ford said, “Discipline is in the hands of the organization. It’s unfortunate and 99% of the employees in the plant were great and I was embarrassed because we’re the host. But that was six seconds out of an hour tour and the tour went great. I think he really enjoyed it and we did too. I understand that gets a lot of social media play and that’s the world we live in. But it was a very small part of the day.”
In response to questions about the viral clip, Ford spokesman Dave Tovar emailed a statement to the Detroit Free Press saying the company had a fantastic event and couldn’t be more proud of its employees.
“We’ve seen the clip you’re referring to,” Tovar wrote. “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.”
The now-suspended Sabula has no regrets about his actions, stating he’s proud he “seized the opportunity.”
“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 New York Post. “And today I think I did that.”
UAW’s Laura Dickerson, who serves as the vice president over the union’s Ford Department, issued a statement saying the “autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union—the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job.”
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