Restaurant owner who booted Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks out — and she's not backing down

The owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, who booted White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders from her restaurant on Friday granted an interview to the Washington Post on Saturday in which she admitted she does not regret her decision.

What is the owner's version of events?

It turns out the owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, was not even at her restaurant when Sanders came in with seven others for dinner. Instead, she was at home when she received a call from her staff informing her of Sanders' arrival.

At no point did Wilkinson doubt what she had to do. After all, she told the Post, Sanders works for an "inhumane and unethical" administration.

"This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals," she said.

Once she arrived to her restaurant, Wilkinson asked her staff what she should do. They overwhelmingly agreed Sanders should be given the boot. So she asked Sanders to chat outside, where she broke the news.

"I was babbling a little, but I got my point across in a polite and direct fashion. 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 said Sanders complied with her request, and instead of making them pay for the food they already consumed, she told Sanders that her group's food was "on the house."

Would Wilkinson do it again?

She told the Post she has no doubt about what she would do if given the opportunity to do it all over again.

"Absolutely, yes, I would have done the same thing again...We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one," she said.

"[W]hatever happens, we will soldier on," she explained.