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Sean Spicer Commands Veteran Reporter April Ryan to ‘Stop Shaking Your Head’

Tweeting “Lawd!!!!” is how veteran White House correspondent April Ryan responded when Press Secretary Sean Spicer commanded her not to shake her head during a heated exchange.

Ryan, a jouralist with the American Urban Radio Networks, asked Spicer how the Donald Trump administration planned to repair its image during a press briefing Tuesday, March 28. Spicer took issue with Ryan’s “agenda” regarding Trump’s ties with Russia, which Spicer maintained there was “no connection” to and claimed Ryan shook her head.

Ryan, who has covered the White House since the Bill Clinton administration, addressed Trump’s meeting with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She asked if their relationship had been repaired since Trump described her using a “very negative word” in 2006. Spicer accused Ryan of trying to promote a certain image of the president before telling her to, “Please, stop shaking your head again.”

The remark drew criticism from Twitter users, who took up for Ryan.

Ryan later defended her questioning on MSNBC.

“I understand what Sean is doing,” she said. “Sean is being the White House press secretary, talking about and trying to make this administration look better than what it does right now and, unfortunately, I was road kill today.”

Ryan also thanked former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton for spotlighting the fact that she was “patronized and cut off trying to ask a question” during a Professional Business Women of California conference speech Tuesday night.

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