Tens of thousands of dollars have been donated to a fundraiser for a Ford plant worker who heckled Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump was visiting a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan when employee TJ Sabula shouted “paedophile protector” at the president.
Trump reacted by appearing to mouth “f*** you” and putting up his middle finger towards Sabula, according to TMZ, who published a video of the incident.
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Sabula has since been suspended without pay by Ford, but in an interview with the Washington Post, he said he had “no regrets whatsoever” for his comments.
In the wake of the incident and Sabula’s suspension, a GoFundMe page has been set up on his behalf to help cover lost income from the suspension.
At the time of writing on Wednesday evening, just under $150,000 (£111,500) had been donated to the fundraiser.
“TJ is a father of two young children, husband, and is a proud United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 600 line worker. Funds donated will support TJ and his family to cover expenses during this time of uncertainty,” the fundraising page states.
In a statement following the factory incident, the White House said: “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
The remarks from Sabula seem to reference accusations against Trump pertaining to his friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s wrongdoing.
It comes as the Epstein files are slowly released by the DOJ, many of which feature a number of famous people including Trump.
Being featured in the files does not imply any wrongdoing.