Sean Spicer scolds African-American reporter: "Stop shaking your head again"

Impact

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer once again had a combative press briefing with reporters Tuesday, downplaying the investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia and patronizing an African-American reporter asking questions about the inquiry.

"I've said it from the day that I got here until whatever that there is no connection," Spicer said in a testy exchange with April D. Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent from the American Urban Radio Networks who was asking about the House investigation into the alleged Russian ties. "You've got Russia. If the president puts Russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a Russian connection."

When Ryan expressed disbelief that Spicer was downplaying the investigation, Spicer went on to scold her. 

"Stop shaking your head again," Spicer told Ryan.

Ryan's questions have really gotten under the White House's skin.

On Monday, Ryan asked about the hate crime in New York City, in which a white supremacist stabbed a black man to death simply for the color of his skin.

Instead of fully denouncing the attack, Spicer evaded the question and painted conservatives as the victims, saying they get blamed every time there is a suspected hate crime. 

During a press conference in February, President Donald Trump himself asked Ryan to set up a meeting between himself and the Congressional Black Caucus — assuming Ryan and the CBC were "friends," presumably because all of them are black.

"I tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting?" Trump asked Ryan, who is a reporter and not a member of the CBC.