Speaking for Myself

by Sarah Huckabee Sanders

  Just minutes before the president and Kim walked in, a North Korean official came out with white gloves to inspect the pen Kim would be using to sign the agreement to make sure it wasn’t weaponized to assassinate him. President Trump and Chairman Kim walked in, sat down, and signed the comprehensive agreement. The president was in a good mood and ready to take a victory lap at his press conference. He did one quick stand-up interview with Voice of America’s Greta Van Susteren and back-to-back sit-down interviews with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and Fox News’s Sean Hannity. They went well, and the president walked into his press conference to the largest gathering of media he’d faced.

  Ahead of the president’s remarks we played the video the president had screened for Kim. It had the feel of an action movie trailer showing what North Korea could look like in the future if it denuclearizes, opens up to foreign investment, and modernizes its economy with the refrain “What if?” The narrator intoned, “Only the very few will make decisions or take actions that renew their homeland and change the course of history.… Two men. Two leaders. One destiny. A story about a special moment in time when a man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. What will he choose?”

  The president opened the press conference with hundreds of reporters by saying:

  It’s my honor today to address the people of the world, following this very historic summit with Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea.…

  I stand before you as an emissary of the American people to deliver a message of hope and vision, and a message of peace.… I want to thank Chairman Kim for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people. Our unprecedented meeting—the first between an American president and a leader of North Korea—proves that real change is indeed possible.…

  Nearly seventy years ago—think of that; seventy years ago—an extremely bloody conflict ravaged the Korean Peninsula. Countless people died in the conflict, including tens of thousands of brave Americans. Yet, while the armistice was agreed to, the war never ended. To this day, never ended. But now we can all have hope that it will soon end.…

  The past does not have to define the future. Yesterday’s conflict does not have to be tomorrow’s war. And as history has proven over and over again, adversaries can indeed become friends. We can honor the sacrifice of our forefathers by replacing the horrors of battle with the blessings of peace.

  I stood along the wall of the crowded room and watched President Trump. I knew it would take a miracle for Kim to ever give up his nuclear weapons. After all, few countries with nuclear weapons had ever voluntarily relinquished them. But the president had already succeeded in liberating American hostages from North Korea, persuaded the regime to freeze its nuclear and long-range missile tests, and had started the process of building a relationship with Kim to de-escalate tensions and lower the risk of a devastating war that could result in the deaths of millions of innocent people. It was a big risk for the president to meet with Kim, but I was proud of the president for taking it.

  After the president answered questions from the press for about a half hour he turned to me and asked in front of the entire room, “Should we keep going for a little while, Sarah? I don’t know … it’s up to the legendary Sarah Huckabee Sanders … should we keep going, Sarah? Okay … go? I don’t care … you know it just means we’ll get home a little later in the evening.”

  As the president walked off the stage a few of us were there to greet and congratulate him. He grabbed a Diet Coke from the military valet, took a long sip, slapped me on my shoulder, and said, “You know what, Sarah, you did pretty good today, ride back with me.” That meant a lot to me. He had just finished one of the most important days of his presidency and was in a good mood and wanted me to share the moment with him.

  I climbed into the Beast and sat next to the president and across from General Kelly. Tony Ornato was in his usual place in the front passenger seat. As we sat there recalling the events of the day en route to the airport in Singapore, the president asked me what I thought of Kim. “I was surprised by his sense of humor, but am a bit concerned that he may have marked me,” I said. I explained that during lunch, I had looked up from my notes to find Kim staring at me. “We made eye contact and he nodded and winked at me.”

  The president and General Kelly exploded with laughter.

  “Kim winked at you?” the president asked.

  “Yes!”

  “Are you telling me Kim Jong-un hit on you!?!?”

  “No, sir, that’s not what I said.”

  “Kim Jong-un hit on you! He did! He f—— hit on you!”

  “Sir, please stop,” I said.

  The president turned to General Kelly and asked: “General?”

  “He definitely hit on you,” Kelly said.

  “Well, Sarah, that settles it,” said the president. “You’re going to North Korea and taking one for the team! Your husband and kids will miss you, but you’ll be a hero to your country!” Trump and Kelly howled with laughter, as the Beast pulled into the airport and we exited to board Air Force One to return home.

  7

  Liberal Mob

  On a Friday evening in the summer of 2018, I drove myself from the White House to Lexington, Virginia, where Bryan, our kids, and my in-laws were spending the weekend at a farmhouse in the mountains outside of town. It had been an exhausting week and after four hours in the car, I arrived to meet Bryan and the family at a small restaurant in downtown Lexington called The Red Hen. They had just ordered drinks and appetizers. I walked in the front door and said hi and gave hugs to everyone. But shortly after I sat down, a woman at the table next to us approached me and said she was the owner of the restaurant and asked if she could talk to me outside on the patio. I agreed, but had an uneasy feeling as we walked out. It was an empty area and just the two of us were standing there. She again reminded me she was the owner and said, “You’re a terrible person. You are not welcome here, and I would like you to leave.” I was stunned. I walked away from her and back inside the restaurant. I quietly approached our table, picked up my things, and whispered to my husband that I had been kicked out. I didn’t say another word to anyone else. I simply walked out the door and didn’t look back. Bryan told his family what had happened, and looked up to see the owner of the restaurant frantically struggling to unlock her phone to video me leaving. It was clear she was hoping to create a viral moment. My father-in-law, Bill, tried to pay the check but The Red Hen refused his money. Bill attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington and named his only daughter, Virginia, because he loved his experience there so much. An attorney from Kansas City, Bill is a loyal husband and father. He is hardworking, funny, and kind, and the way he was made to feel as if his money was somehow unworthy in that establishment was disgraceful.

  I got to the car and I was pretty upset. I was already worn out from a tough day at the office and hours on the road, and had really been looking forward to seeing my family, many of whom we only see a few times a year. They asked if we wanted to go to a different restaurant, but at this point I just wanted to go home. Bryan and I drove back to the farmhouse, and kissed our kids goodnight. Scarlett and Huck were cuddled up asleep in each other’s arms in the loft. Bryan reassured me it was okay and reminded me to focus on what matters—our faith, our family, and all that we have to be thankful for. I ate a bowl of cereal at the farmhouse and went to bed.

  The rest of our group went to dinner across the street at a different restaurant, called the Southern Inn, hoping to put the incident behind them and spend some time together as a family. Unfortunately the owner of The Red Hen wasn’t content just to kick us out of her restaurant. She and a group of her friends went over to protest and harass my family at the other restaurant as well. Bryan’s dad was appalled. His mom was afraid and worried that it would escalate to violence. Bryan’s brother and sister and their significant others—all liberal Democrats—were angry. His brother walked outside and up to the owner of The Red Hen and
said, “Sarah and her husband aren’t here. Nearly everyone you’re harassing right now voted for Hillary Clinton. What you’re doing is uncalled for.”

  The next morning Bryan and I woke up, had coffee, and took the kids out on the farm, set on a hillside in the Shenandoah Valley. Scarlett, Huck, and George gathered eggs from the chicken coop, held newborn piglets, and took turns riding a pony. I had left my phone at the house, and returned to dozens of missed calls, texts, and emails asking me what happened at The Red Hen the night before. Turned out our waiter had posted about the incident on social media and a local Democratic activist rebroadcast it on Twitter, which then caught the attention of the national media. Reporters from around the country were now investigating. Some reporters falsely assumed it had taken place at a different restaurant in Washington, DC, with the same name but no affiliation with The Red Hen in Lexington. I decided that instead of wasting the limited family vacation time I had responding to each media request individually, I’d post one statement on Twitter to set the record straight: “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. 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.”

  Twitter exploded, and The Red Hen controversy quickly became the top news story in America. The lead on Drudge Report was a photo of the front of the restaurant with the headline: “RED HEN CLUCKAAAAAWWWWKS SANDERS.” At one point, The Red Hen went from the highest-rated restaurant in Lexington on Yelp to the lowest after thousands of negative reviews poured in from Trump supporters around the country. In an attempt at damage control, The Red Hen owner did an interview with The Washington Post and gave a false account of the evening, mentioning nothing about trying to video my family as she kicked us out or following them to a different restaurant and harassing them there. The Washington Post never corrected her story, and in the months that followed published not one but two columns on their editorial page by the owner of The Red Hen defending her actions.

  At the farm, we decided to stay in rather than venture back into Lexington. We had a beautiful dinner outside on the deck as the sun set over the mountains. The night ended with the family drinking champagne and doing karaoke, and for a few hours we forgot all about The Red Hen and laughed and enjoyed our time together.

  On Sunday we loaded up our Yukon for the drive back to Washington, but The Red Hen controversy raged on. Liberal congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) said, “If you see anybody from that (administration) in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them! And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere!”

  Former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush Ari Fleischer said, “I guess we’re heading into an America with Democrat-only restaurants, which will lead to Republican-only restaurants. Do the fools who threw Sarah out, and the people who cheer them on, really want us to be that kind of country?”

  Even former president Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, no fan of President Trump, said, “Kind of amazed and appalled by the number of folks on Left who applauded the expulsion of @PressSec and her family from a restaurant.”

  At our senior staff meeting back at the White House, General Kelly addressed the rising threat level against senior administration officials, and said we should exercise caution in public and when legally permissible carry a firearm in public to defend ourselves. Afterward he pulled me aside and said I needed to meet with Secret Service because they’d determined there had been a credible violent threat made against me.

  I was in the Situation Room for a meeting on the border crisis, and the president called me into the Oval Office. “What’d you think of my tweet about The Red Hen? All the attention is kind of cool, isn’t it?”

  “Actually, sir, it’s kind of scary. Threats are being made against me and my family and we don’t have any kind of security.”

  “You don’t? You must be kidding.”

  “No, sir.”

  The president couldn’t believe I didn’t have a Secret Service detail. It had never occurred to him that I wouldn’t.

  I opened the press briefing that day by addressing the controversy:

  Good afternoon. Many by now have heard that I was asked to leave a restaurant this weekend where I attempted to have dinner with my family. My husband and I politely left and went home. I was asked to leave because I work for President Trump.

  We are allowed to disagree, but we should be able to do so freely and without fear of harm. And this goes for all people regardless of politics. Some have chosen to push hate and vandalism against the restaurant that I was asked to leave from. A Hollywood actor publicly encouraged people to kidnap my children. And this weekend, a member of Congress called for people to “push back” and make clear to those serving their country in this administration that they are not welcome anywhere, anytime, for anything.

  Healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important, but the calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable.

  America is a great country, and our ability to find solutions despite those disagreements is what makes us unique.

  I went on Fox & Friends and was asked about The Red Hen incident and incivility in politics. “I’m going to continue to do exactly what I tell my kids to do … and that’s to treat everybody with respect.… It’s a sad day in America when Democrats’ only message is to attack people that support this president and support this country.”

  In the weeks that followed, hundreds of Bikers for Trump rode through the streets of Lexington in a show of solidarity to protest The Red Hen. The AP, Fox News, and the New York Post ran stories about how The Red Hen incident was hurting tourism and the local economy in Lexington. Fox News reported:

  A small town in Virginia is attempting a reputation makeover after a restaurant in the area infamously refused to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in June.

  The area’s regional tourism board is pulling together emergency funds to boost its digital marketing campaign, The Roanoke Times reported Sunday. The money is normally saved, however, officials agreed the region is in desperate need of positive coverage after the Sanders controversy.…

  Following the incident, the tourism board was flooded with thousands of calls and emails—and the complaints are still coming. The office received a letter Thursday from a Georgia family that wrote to say it would never return because of what happened.

  “For a town our size, it was a significant impact,” Patty Williams, the director of marketing, told The Roanoke Times.…

  The restaurant closed its doors for nearly two weeks after the controversy broke.

  I still couldn’t understand why anyone would kick a person out of their restaurant over a political disagreement. The year before, Bryan had been kicked out of his fantasy football league—a league he’d participated in for more than a decade with friends from college—because the commissioner of the league said he couldn’t associate with my husband anymore. Not because he worked for President Trump—but because I did.

  At my kids’ preschool in Arlington, Virginia, a woman approached me as I was walking my three-year-old George to class and holding his hand, and with a look of pure rage in her eyes told me I was an awful human being. Our three-year-olds were in the same class. The woman turned, walked past George and me, and spat onto the windshield of my car.

  In the Trump era, many liberals who preached tolerance were guilty of hateful displays of intolerance. Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) was spiraling out of control. Bryan and I had many Democratic friends, including some who had worked in the Obama administration. We didn’t vote for President Obama or agree with his policies, but it never crossed our minds to be anything but thrilled for our friends who had the opportunity to work in the White House during his administration—to treat them like ene
mies because of their political affiliation was unconscionable.

  I was often told I had a hard job fighting back against President Trump’s critics, but that was never the hardest part of my job. I was proud of the administration’s many achievements and defended the president’s policies unapologetically. The hardest part of my job was realizing that my kids might not be safe anymore. I was no longer only worried about them falling off the monkey bars or getting sick—I was now afraid that someone might hurt them or take them. I wasn’t sleeping. I called their school and talked to their teachers, reminding them that no one who wasn’t on the list was allowed to pick them up. I didn’t allow my kids to attend most playdates or birthday parties they were invited to and for a while we didn’t go out to many places in public.

  While Bryan and I attended a party Jared and Ivanka hosted at the Trump International Hotel—one of the few safe places for prominent Trump administration officials in Washington—ABC News broke the story that I would be the first White House press secretary ever to receive Secret Service protection. I woke up the next morning to a line of Secret Service vehicles outside our home and media staked out to cover my departure to the White House with a Secret Service detail for the first time.

  As much as some reporters were enraged by the president’s name-calling against the media (“a threat to the freedom of the press and democracy itself!”), some of them apparently couldn’t care less that their personal attacks against the president and his team incited violent threats against us. I made this point to CNN’s Jim Acosta during an intense exchange we had in the White House press briefing room: