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Man taken off JetBlue flight after verbally harassing Ivanka Trump

Man and passenger he was with were removed
Man taken off JetBlue flight after verbally harassing Ivanka Trump
Posted at 1:26 PM, Dec 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-22 13:43:46-05

Two men were pulled from a flight on Thursday after one of them verbally harassed Ivanka Trump, who was also a passenger on the flight.

According to New York's WABC-TV, the altercation happened on a JetBlue flight leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport. Trump — the daughter of President-elect Donald Trump — was on the flight with her husband and children, reportedly headed to Hawaii for Christmas vacation.

WABC reported that the man who yelled at Trump was removed from the flight along with his husband, who tweeted about the incident as it was happening.

"Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner] on our flight," Matthew Lasner tweeted on Thursday. "My husband expressed displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane."

Lasner's tweet has since been deleted.

TMZ reported that the incident was not as calm as Lasner portrayed it. Witnesses told TMZ the man "screamed" at Trump, "Your father is ruining the country."

According to WABC, JetBlue issued a statement shortly after the incident.

"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," JetBlue wrote.

Clint Davis covers entertainment and trending news topics for the Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @MrClintDavis.