The White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was repeatedly questioned by an Indian-American woman who accused him of destroying the US while she a took a dig at President Donald Trump.
The incident took place at a local Apple store when the woman named Shree Chauhan saw Spicer and started questioning him as she filmed the whole sequence.
The video was posted by her on Twitter on Sunday and has gone viral.
Reacting to the incident, Spicer, at his daily news conference on Monday, said that the US is a free country and people have the right to act however they want.
As per Chauhan's various social media posts, she was in the store to get her iPhone fixed when she spotted Spicer.
She wrote in a post on Medium.com:
I realised what an enormous opportunity it was to get answers without the protections normally given to Mr Spicer. I was honestly quite nervous and wanted to come up with more cogent questions, but did not have time to do so.
According to the video, she asked Spicer:
She said she has lived in Washington DC for about a decade and during this time she has met several VVIPs at public places, including pharmacy and grocery stores, but did not interact with them.
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As she questioned Spicer multiple times, he replied saying "such a great country that allows you to be here", which the Indian-American described as racist remarks.
In response to Spicer’s comments, Chauhan alleged:
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At the news conference, Spicer said if people have questions, they should ask him.
"Ask it. I interact with individuals all day long.
Ninety-nine percent of them are pleasant, even with people who may not agree with our philosophy or programs or whatever," he said.
Spicer added:
The incident has drawn criticism from a top Indian-American donor of Trump's presidential campaign, who called the woman's behaviour disgusting.
In her blog post, Chauhan described Spicer's response to her question as a threat to her citizenship.
In response to Spicer’s remarks about her nationality, Chauhan said:
According to her, Chauhan is a native of Gujarat and the founder and CEO of Parents in Partnership, an education startup that empowers parents to lead positive changes in schools and communities.
Hailing from Florida, Chauhan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from the University of Miami and a Master of Public Administration degree from American University.
(With inputs from PTI)