The owner of the Virginia restaurant who asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her establishment on Friday night said she did not regret her decision. “I would have done the same thing again,” Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of the Red Hen restaurant told the Washington Post. “We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one.” The small restaurant found itself in the national spotlight after Sanders tweeted Saturday morning that she had been asked to leave Red Hen, which is located in Lexington Virginia, because she works in the Trump administration. Sanders did not mention Wilkinson by name, but it was clear the press secretary disagreed with her decision. “Her actions say far more about her than about me,” Sanders said. “I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.” Wilkinson told the Post that she wasn’t even in the restaurant when Sanders initially entered; she received a call from the chef at 8 p.m., who told her that Sanders was in the restaurant and the staff was concerned. When she arrived at the restaurant, she told the staff that she could ask Sanders to leave, and they said they wanted her to do that. Wilkinson told the Post that she generally tries to avoid politics, and disagrees politically with several of her regular customers, but ultimately felt that Sanders’ public defense of the Trump Administration qualified as an exception. “This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals,” she told the Post. Wilkinson said she told Sanders “the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation.” Wilkinson also said she did not charge Sanders for the food the group had ordered and the cheese plates they had eaten. Get our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Write to Alana Abramson at Alana.Abramson@time.com.<doc-sep>Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she "politely left" a Virginia restaurant on Friday night after the owner told her to exit the business because of her association with President Donald Trump Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says She Was Asked to Leave Virginia Restaurant Because of Trump Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she “politely left” a Virginia restaurant on Friday night after the owner told her to exit the business because of her association with President Donald Trump. The White House press secretary, who has received widespread criticism in the past for defending the president’s lies, tweeted on Saturday about the alleged incident — which appears to be yet another example of sharply divided times in the U.S. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “Last night, I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left,” Sanders, 35, wrote. “Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.” Sanders’ tweet came weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a bakery owner who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, a verdict many conservatives praised. Calls to the farm-to-table restaurant to verify Sanders’ claims by PEOPLE went straight to a voicemail box. Still, the Ren Hen’s Yelp and Facebook pages were flooded with posts in support of Sanders, with many calling the establishment’s owners “bigots.” “Are Republicans welcome in this restaurant or just not ones that work for the current administration?” one Yelp user asked. “I wouldn’t want to be asked to leave, so I would like to choose restaurants based on whether I would be able to have a decent experience.” “After their latest shenanigans, I will never step foot in The Ren Hen,” one woman wrote on their Facebook page. “Totally discrimination against conservatives..but I guess discrimination is only one sided these days.” Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders’ father, also blasted the owners. “Bigotry. On the menu at Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington VA,” Huckabee tweeted. “Or you can ask for the ‘Hate Plate.’ And appetizers are ‘small plates for small minds.’ ” Others, meanwhile, came to the Red Hen’s defense. “Personally, I prefer NOT having to dine with liars, racists or fascists,” wrote another Yelp user. “But that’s just me.” “If I ever go to Lexington, Va, I will make sure to dine at The Red Hen,” wrote a Twitter user. “Any restaurant willing to take a stand against the lying Bigly mouthpiece is great in my book. Your actions have consequences, Sarah. Deal with it.” Acclaimed director Ava Duvernay also showed that she was going to be supporting the restaurant: “Takes out pen, takes out paper, adds Red Hen to list of preferred restaurants in my best handwriting, with hearts,” she tweeted. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Holds Press Briefing Sarah Huckabee Sanders | Credit: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary, speaks during a White House press briefing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2017. Sanders said President Donald Trump could benefit from some of the business provisions in the tax bill that could be headed for his signature this week. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Sanders was promoted to White House press secretary following the July 2017 resignation of Sean Spicer. She previously served as deputy press secretary. Another Trump administration official, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, had an incident in a D.C.-area eatery on Tuesday when a group of protesters ambushed her over the processing detention centers her office runs. Protestors from the Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America asked Nielsen questions — including “How do you sleep at night?” and “Do you hear the babies crying?” — as she dined with a colleague at MXDC Cocina Mexicana. RELATED: Comedian Michelle Wolf Roasted Sarah Sanders at the White House Correspondents Dinner Meanwhile, earlier this month, Sanders pushed back against a new report that claimed she is planning to leave her position before the end of the year. According to a story posted by CBS News, White House sources told the outlet that both Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are expected to depart the administration. CBS News reported that Sanders told friends she would step down by year’s end. In response, Sanders wrote on Twitter, “Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to me.”<doc-sep>Another high-ranking female member of the Trump administration was hounded out of a restaurant. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed she and seven members of her family were kicked out of The Red Hen in Lexington, Va., before they even got their appetizers on Friday night. “Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left,” Sanders tweeted Saturday. “Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.” A server’s Facebook post about the incident went viral hours before Sanders confirmed it. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen bolted from a Washington, DC, Mexican restaurant after a noisy group of protesters confronted her at her table – with the blessing of the eatery’s manager. Sanders’ father, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, jumped to his daughter’s defense. “Bigotry. On the menu at Red Hen Restaurant in Lexington VA,” he tweeted Saturday. “Or you can ask for the ‘Hate Plate’. And appetizers are ‘small plates for small mind. '””<doc-sep>
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family were asked to leave a Virginia farm-to-table restaurant last night because of her work with the Trump administration. Sanders sent out a tweet confirming that the Red Hen restaurant asked her to leave on Friday evening “because I work for @POTUS and I politely left.” Reviewers swarmed Facebook and Yelp to take on the restaurant’s conduct. Some offered praise, while others lambasted the further polarization and the lack of accommodation. The restaurant’s website also went offline because of the heavy Internet traffic. The incident came to light when a waiter at the restaurant, Jaike Foley-Schultz, posted about it on Facebook. “I just served Sarah huckabee sanders for a total of 2 minutes before my owner kicked her out along with 7 of her other family members…” he wrote. “Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left,” Sanders tweeted this morning. “Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so. On Yelp, where the restaurant rated two-and-a-half stars, one reviewer asked, “Are Republicans welcome in this restaurant or just not ones that work for the current administration? I wouldn’t want to be asked to leave, so I would like to choose restaurants based on whether I would be able to have a decent experience.” However, one Yelp wag asked, “I live in Oregon. Can I get some food delivered?”