Bill Clinton defended White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday night during his appearance on The Daily Show.
The former president and author, James Patterson, both sat down with Trevor Noah to discuss their book collaboration, The President Is Missing.
At one point, Noah changes the subject to ask Clinton about issues facing America right now: civility and immigration.
Noah referred to the incident in which Sanders was told to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia where staff members oppose the Trump administration’s policies.
Bill Clinton defended White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday night during his appearance on The Daily Show. Clinton and author James Patterson (center) sat down with Trevor Noah to discuss their book collaboration, The President Is Missing
Clinton explained that the restaurant owner had every right to make the decision to ask Sanders to leave, but he admitted he had a lot of respect for how Sanders handled the situation
In response to that, Clinton recalled a time when he was in church and was confronted by man during his presidency.
The man told Clinton that he wasn’t taking action on AIDs, which Clinton agreed with.
‘That I thought was fine,’ he said of the man’s behavior, adding that what happened to Sanders is a different story.
Clinton said the restaurant owner had every right to make the decision to ask Sanders to leave, but he asked: ‘Would it be better if that didn’t happen? I think it would.’
Clinton also said he had respect for the way the restaurant’s co-owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, (pictured) went about asking Sanders to leave the Red Hen
‘But, you know, a lot of poison has been poured down America’s throat since that 2016 campaign,’ Clinton said, adding that it started with Trump called Mexicans ‘rapists and murderers’.
‘It’s hard to pour poison down other people’s throat and not have some of it come back up and bubble up.’
Clinton said he read about the incident at the restaurant and how the owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, went about making her decision to ask Sanders to leave.
Wilkinson took a staff vote before Sanders was asked to exit the restaurant.
‘I wound up with a lot of respect for the way she [Wilkinson] debated it, but I also had a lot of respect for the way Sarah Huckabee Sanders handled it,’ Clinton said.
‘She was very dignified, she didn’t chew them out, she didn’t pitch a fit, she didn’t call them immigrant-loving thugs or whatever, she just got up and left and offered to pay.
Clinton continued: ‘Maybe what I’d like to see is that this be the beginning of something where it would be better if we started talking to each other again.’
‘Sooner or later, people have to stop tearing each other down and go to work. But I think you can’t foment as much hatred as has been fomented by the administration without having a blowback. So if they want to have civility, they have to stop the name-calling and take the lead,’ Clinton concluded.
Sanders tweeted over the weekend that she was asked to leave the restaurant by its owner Friday evening because she works for Trump.
Clinton also said ‘a lot of poison has been poured down America’s throat since that 2016 campaign,’ adding that ‘its hard to pour poison down other people’s throat and not have some of it come back up and bubble up’. Clinton is seen with Patterson
Sanders said that she ‘politely left’ and that the owner’s ‘actions say far more about her than about me’.
She told reporters at a White House briefing: ‘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.’
The restaurant’s co-owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Monday.
She, however, told The Washington Post that her reasons for booting Sanders included the concerns of employees who were gay and knew Sanders had defended Trump’s desire to bar transgender people from serving in the military.
Several other Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, have been confronted in public in recent days amid intense fury over an administration policy that led to an increase in the number of migrant children being separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally.
The White House press secretary posted this tweet Saturday morning, sharing details about the incident
Sanders said that she ‘politely left’ and that the owner’s ‘actions say far more about her than about me’
Nielsen cut short a working dinner at a Mexican restaurant last week after protesters shouted, ‘Shame!’ until she left.
Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller was accosted by someone at a different Mexican restaurant who called him ‘a fascist,’ according to the New York Post.
The displays of hostility have set off a fierce debate about whether politics should play a role in how administration officials are treated in public, with Sanders’ father, former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee, denouncing his daughter’s treatment as ‘bigotry’.
Sanders’ father also revealed his daughter’s family was heckled even more than what was originally said by the owners of Red Hen in Lexington on Friday.
The conservative politician made the remarks Monday on The Laura Ingraham Show.
‘There’s a part of that story that has not been told,’ the former governor said.
He went on: ‘Once Sarah and her family left – of course Sarah was asked to please vacate – Sarah and her husband just went home, they’d had enough. But, the rest of her family went across the street to a different restaurant.
‘The owner of the Red Hen – nobody’s told this – then followed them across the street, called people and organized a protest, yelling and screaming at them from outside the other restaurant and creating this scene.’
Sanders’ father, former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee (pictured together in 2017), denounced his daughter’s treatment as ‘bigotry’
Sanders said that ‘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’. Pictured is the Red Hen restaurant with protesters outside
Sanders said she was harassed by liberal owners at the Red Hen restaurant in downtown Lexington
The Christian minister added that several of his daughter’s liberal in-laws were in attendance to the humiliating dinner outing.
He said the relatives spoke out against the Red Hen owners’ behavior – and said they acted out and inappropriately.
‘One of them walked out and said: ‘Look, I don’t like Trump. I’m not a supporter. I’m a far – considered liberal – but, you guys are embarrassing me and you’re not helping your cause.”’
The conservative commentator called the incident ‘really tragic’ and ‘what the Left has been reduced to’ while discussing the matter on the Ingraham Show.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders added: ‘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.’
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump trash-talked the Virginia restaurant on Monday.
In a tweet, Trump said that 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: ‘I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!’
President Donald Trump (seen speaking at a rally for South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster in West Columbia, South Carolina) trash-talked the Virginia restaurant Monday
Trump said that 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’
The president, an admitted germophobe, has said he prefers eating at fast food chains rather than independent eateries because he trusts them more.
Photographs of the restaurant, a three-hour drive from Washington, appear to show no evidence of serious disrepair to the red building with hunter green awnings and white doors and trim, though recent images show some awning wear.
The restaurant’s most recent health inspection, reported by the local news site Patch and available online, includes no record of violations.
Inspectors noted ‘good food/unit temperatures,’ said staff had clean uniforms and aprons, and observed ‘excellent job on code-dating’.
Since the incident, it was revealed that Secret Service agents will protect Sanders at her home on a temporary basis.
News of Sanders’ beefed up security detail was first reported by NBC News.
The Secret Service declined to comment.