White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Saturday that she was kicked out of a restaurant by the owner because she works for the Trump administration and because of her political views.
In a tweet, Sanders said she politely left Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia after the owner told her to go because of her affiliation with the Trump administration:
“I’m not a huge fan of confrontation,” Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner, told The Washington Post. “I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.”
Wilkinson said that several of her employees were gay and that they knew that Sanders had defended the president’s call for a ban on transgender troops in the military.
“Tell me what you want me to do. I can ask her to leave,” Wilkinson claims she told her staff. “They said yes.”
Wilkinson then said that she identified herself to Sanders and asked for her to come out to the patio with her for a private word.
“I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation,” Wilkinson said. “I said, ‘I’d like to ask you to leave.'”
Wilkinson indicated that Sanders was respectful and said she would go and offered to pay for the food that was being prepared.
“I said, no,” Wilkinson said. “It’s on the house.”