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Man removed from flight for harassing Ivanka Trump

This article is more than 12 months old

New York professor goes on tirade after seeing US President-elect's daughter on same plane

WASHINGTON: A passenger was removed from a JetBlue flight after verbally harassing US President-elect Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka as she began a holiday with her family.

Fox News said Ms Trump was flying in economy with her husband, Mr Jared Kushner, her children and several cousins when a man began yelling at her.

"Your father is ruining the country," the man said, according to TMZ.

"Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private."

The man was reportedly holding a young child in his arms during the tirade.

Ms Trump was reported to have tried distracting her kids during the incident.

When JetBlue security escorted the man off the plane at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, he reportedly complained that they were kicking him off for expressing his opinion.

The New York Daily News later identified him as Mr Matthew Lasner, a professor of Hunter College in New York.

Mr Lasner posted an image on Twitter showing Ms Trump sitting in her seat.

ABC News was told by senior sources in the Trump transition team that Ms Trump and her family were heading to Hawaii for a holiday when the incident happened.

'DOUBLE TAKE'

Another passenger on the flight, Mr Marc Scheff, said that when the man saw her, he "did a double take and said 'oh my God. This is a nightmare!'" reported Reuters.

A JetBlue spokesman said in a statement: "The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. If the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during flight.

"In this instance, our team worked to re-accommodate the party on the next available flight."

A US Secret Service official told ABC News that the airline had made the decision to remove the passenger from the plane.

Secret Service agents were on board the flight with the Trumps but they were not involved in the situation.

Mr Trump was not with his daughter on the flight, ABC said.- THE STRAITS TIMES

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