Trump slams Red Hen as ‘filthy,’ but Mar-a-Lago had 78 infractions

Daniel Lin | AP

Passersby gather to take photos in front of the Red Hen Restaurant, Saturday, June 23, 2018, in Lexington, Va.

President Donald Trump lashed out Monday at a Virginia restaurant that refused to serve his press secretary, saying it is “filthy” and “badly needs a paint job.”

But the president’s claims about the Red Hen’s cleanliness seem to be unfounded, according to a review of state health inspection records.

The owner of the Lexington restaurant asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave on Friday night after employees said they were uncomfortable serving a spokesperson for the Trump administration.

“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 tweeted on Monday. “I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!”

It was not immediately not clear how the president evaluated the restaurant’s “canopies, doors and windows,” and the White House did not respond CNBC’s inquiry about the matter.

In February, the Virginia Department of Health found no violations at the property. Inspectors gave the restaurant, which claims to be Lexington’s first farm-to-table eatery, its highest possible rating.

The Red Hen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Critics were quick to point out that some of the president’s own establishments have performed poorly in inspections.

For instance, The Associated Press found the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was cited 78 times over three years for health code violations including cooking staff not washing their hands and the “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance” on an ice machine.

A spokesperson for The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment.