--- title: Donald Trump Calls Flint Pastor 'A Nervous Mess' description: Donald Trump on Thursday called the pastor who interrupted him during a speech at her church in Flint, Mich., "a nervous mess" canonical: https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T15:23:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:47:00.201Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Calls Flint Pastor 'A Nervous Mess' og:description: She interrupted him when he began to attack Hillary Clinton in a speech og:url: https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28232ca5a2aaca3f/6988a636ab6d77b2296ab3ca/trump-flint-pastor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3900 og:image:height: 2194 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In Canton, Ohio og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Calls Flint Pastor 'A Nervous Mess' twitter:description: She interrupted him when he began to attack Hillary Clinton in a speech twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28232ca5a2aaca3f/6988a636ab6d77b2296ab3ca/trump-flint-pastor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Calls Flint Pastor 'A Nervous Mess' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b95cc849-28c8-4338-9b4b-87e16caf0bf4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch A Pastor In Flint, Michigan Interrupt Trump's Speech [Watch (HLS stream): Watch A Pastor In Flint, Michigan Interrupt Trump's Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5LzAxYlE.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2016-09-14_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 15, 2016 3:23 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 15, 2016 3:23 PM UTC Donald Trump on Thursday called the pastor who [interrupted him during a speech](http://time.com/4494178/donald-trump-flint-pastor/) at her church in [Flint, Mich.](http://time.com/4188328/the-poisoning-of-an-american-city/?iid=sr-link1), “a nervous mess.” “Something was up because I noticed she was so nervous when she introduced me,” Trump said in an [interview on Fox News](https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/776382260035461120/video/1). “When she got up to introduce me she was so nervous, she was shaking, and I said, ‘Wow, this is sort of strange.’ And then she came up. So she had that in mind, there’s no question about it.” Rev. Faith Green Timmons cut Trump off during his speech on Wednesday, when he started to attack Hillary Clinton and her policies. “Mr. Trump, I invited you here to thank us for what we’ve done in Flint,” Timmons said. “Not to give a political speech.” Trump backed down. “O.K. That’s good. And I’m going to go back onto Flint,” he said. But in Thursday’s Fox News interview, Trump accused Timmons of planning to interrupt him. “She was like a nervous mess, and so I figured something—I figured something was up, really,” he said. Speaking to reporters after the event on Wednesday, [Timmons explained](https://twitter.com/CameronRidle/status/776175362069843968?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) that she had welcomed Trump to the church to learn more about their work in the community, acknowledging that it might have seemed like an “odd situation.” “They had plans to make it a little more than they originally said, and I said, no, you’re going to stick to the original plan,” Timmons said about the Trump campaign. “When he asked to come in and make a statement and the statement began to go beyond what he originally said, I asked him to stick to what he said. You came here to welcome our workers and thank them for what they have done, and that’s what he stuck to,” she said, adding that she had wanted Trump to “see the best of Flint” after “degrading” statements he has made about African Americans. ## Transcript Hillary failed on the economy, just like she has failed on foreign policy. Everything she touched didn't work out. Nothing. Now, Hillary Clinton- Mr. Trump, Yes. I invited you here to thank us [ CROSSTALK ] and not to give a political statement. Okay, okay. That's good. Then I'm gonna go back [ INAUDIBLE ]. Okay, okay. Flint's pain is a result of so many different failures. And I must say that. [ INAUDIBLE ]. No, I never, never would, never would, never would. And frankly, Time magazine, as you know, they reported this year that the Federal Government have got a long way to go to bring Flint back. And I look At the damage done, and the damage can be taken care of. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Calls Flint Pastor 'A Nervous Mess'","datePublished":"2016-09-15T15:23:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:47:00.201Z","description":"She interrupted him when he began to attack Hillary Clinton in a speech","url":"https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","Michigan","Flint Water Crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28232ca5a2aaca3f/6988a636ab6d77b2296ab3ca/trump-flint-pastor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28232ca5a2aaca3f/6988a636ab6d77b2296ab3ca/trump-flint-pastor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In Canton, Ohio","caption":"Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In Canton, Ohio","creditText":"Jeff Swensen/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/","name":"Donald Trump Calls Flint Pastor 'A Nervous Mess'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch A Pastor In Flint, Michigan Interrupt Trump's Speech","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5LzAxYlE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-09-14T21:41:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5LzAxYlE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/","duration":"PT52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4495133/donald-trump-flint-nervous-interruption/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```