Washington - President Donald Trump lashed out Monday at a Virginia restaurant that refused to serve his press secretary, writing on Twitter that the Red Hen has "filthy canopies, doors and windows" and "badly needs a paint job."
The president's attack on the exterior of the tiny farm-to-table establishment came in response to an incident Friday night in which its owner asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave on grounds that she worked for an "inhumane and unethical" administration.
Sanders had been out for dinner with friends, the cheese course already on the table, when owner Stephanie Wilkinson took her aside and requested that she leave the restaurant in Lexington, Virginia.
"The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders," Trump said in his Monday tweet. "I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!"
The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018
Trump, who has described himself as a germaphobe, remained uncharacteristically silent about the episode over the weekend, even as it became the talk of social media and cable television and he tweeted about an array of other subjects.
Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave on June 22. Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post
Sanders took to her government Twitter account on Saturday to explain that she had "politely left" when asked.
"Her actions say far more about her than about me," Sanders said of Wilkinson. "I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so."