President Trump raised his middle finger at a heckler who accused him of being a “pedophile protector” while touring a Ford factory in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday afternoon.
It was a fleeting interaction that happened while the president was out of sight of the small group of reporters that travels by his side as part of the press pool. Footage of the moment, which looked like it was filmed on a cellphone, appeared on the celebrity gossip website TMZ shortly after Mr. Trump had left the factory.
The White House’s communications director, Steven Cheung, said in a statement that a “lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
Ford did not immediately respond to questions about the encounter.
It had all been going so nicely until the president was called a pedophile protector. Mr. Trump was walking the factory floor, taking selfies with adoring Ford workers in safety vests as F-150 trucks moved along assembly lines overhead. Ford executives including Jim Farley, the company’s chief executive, accompanied Mr. Trump as he watched the trucks come to life.
The president had traveled to Michigan on Tuesday to talk about his handling of the economy, which his aides have been desperate for him to focus on since Americans’ concerns about affordability seem to be growing more acute. (After the Ford plant, he spoke to a room of business people in Detroit.)
There were, of course, other issues pressing in on the day. On the factory floor, Mr. Trump fielded questions from reporters about his administration’s investigation of Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, and about the crisis in Iran and whether his administration might strike to topple the ayatollah.
For once, one topic that did not come up was the life and death of Jeffrey Epstein.
But as Mr. Trump walked along an upper floor of the factory, one of the men below began to shout that the president was “a pedophile protector.” Mr. Trump looked over in the direction of the shouting and twice mouthed a two-word response. It was difficult to make out what he said in the clip published by TMZ, though it sure looked like something beginning with the letter “F.”
What was a little easier to decipher was what came next. Mr. Trump turned away from the heckler below and took a few more steps, but then seemed to decide he was not done. He looked back, quickly raised his arm and flipped the bird.
Shawn McCreesh is a White House reporter for The Times covering the Trump administration.
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