Red Hen owner who ousted Trump spokeswoman quits local group

LEXINGTON, Va. - (AP) -- The co-owner of the Virginia restaurant that refused to serve White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has resigned from a local business group.

News outlets report Stephanie Wilkinson, co-owner of the Red Hen, resigned Tuesday as executive director of Main Street Lexington. The group's board president, Elizabeth Outland Branner, says Wilkinson felt she should resign considering the past weekend's events.

Wilkinson told The Washington Post that she asked Sanders to leave the restaurant Friday evening at the request of gay employees who object to how Sanders defended President Donald Trump's desire to bar transgender people from the military.

The Red Hen has not reopened since that night. Protests continue, with one man being escorted away by police after throwing chicken manure.