Passenger Accused of Harassing Ivanka Trump Removed from Flight

ByAARON KATERSKY ABCNews logo
Friday, December 23, 2016

A passenger was removed from a JetBlue flight after allegedly harassing another passenger, according to the airline, which Trump sources identified as Ivanka Trump.



Senior sources in the Trump transition team told ABC News the president-elect's daughter and her children were heading to Hawaii for vacation when a passenger shouted at them.



The family was flying JetBlue, and airline staffers decided to remove the passenger at JFK Airport in New York.



"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 reaccommodate the party on the next available flight," a JetBlue representative said in a statement.



A U.S. Secret Service official told ABC News the airline made the decision to remove the passenger from the plane. Secret Service agents were on board the flight with Ivanka Trump but were not involved in the situation.



Matthew Lasner, a man claiming that his husband was the person who had the confrontation with Ivanka Trump and was removed from the plane, posted some tweets and a picture of Ivanka on the plane. He has since deleted these tweets from his profile and appears to have shut down his account.



He posted his first tweet about the incident apparently before any interaction occurred, writing "Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them. #banalityofevil".



Jared Kushner was traveling with his wife Ivanka on the flight today, senior Trump transition sources told ABC News.



An hour later, Lasner tweeted again.



"Ivanka and Jared on our flight. My husband expressed displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane," he wrote.



The third tweet included the picture of Ivanka, with the caption "Ivanka just before @JetBlue kicked us off our flight when a flt [sic] attendant overhead [sic] my husband expressing displeasure about flying w/ Trumps."



ABC News has reached out to Lasner but did not immediately receive a response.



Donald Trump was not with his daughter on the flight. He is currently at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.



ABC News' Jack Date contributed to this report.

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