It’s not easy being an appointee of US President Donald Trump in the current climate. Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer has learnt that he doesn’t just have to deal with tough questions in the White House briefing room. On Saturday, as Spicer stepped into a Washington DC Apple store to shop, he was confronted with a straightforward question: “How does it feel to work for a fascist?”

Shree Chauhan, an American woman of Indian origin who works at a non-profit in Washington DC, confronted Spicer while also broadcasting her encounter on Periscope, a live video service. “Have you helped with the Russia stuff?” she asked the press secretary. “Are you a criminal as well? Have you committed treason, just like the president?”

Spicer first thanks the woman twice as a response, then said, “Such a great country that allows you to be here.” Chauhan, who blogged about the incident on Medium afterwards, said she felt this was a reference to her skin colour and amounted to Spicer questioning her citizenship.

“It’s one thing to have a Twitter egg tell say you do not belong in America, it is quite another to have the Press Secretary of the United States of America do so,” Chauhan writes. “I am still astounded.”

Not everyone agrees with her reading of either the situation or the country. Many have insisted that Chauhan’s approach – confronting Spicer while he was out shopping – amounts to harassment. Chauhan, however, disputes this saying she though the moment was an “enormous opportunity it was to get answers without the protections normally given to Mr Spicer”.

On his part, Spicer later told the press that, “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 programmes, whatever.”