CNN host Don Lemon told viewers Wednesday evening that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) should have accepted responsibility for visiting a hair salon in San Francisco in defiance of local coronavirus restrictions, instead of deflecting and alleging that she had been deliberately set up.
“Take this, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that she was set up after she was seen not wearing a face mask at a San Francisco hair salon,” said Lemon, who showed footage of the salon visit and the speaker “as she walks from one room to another, not wearing a mask and having haircuts indoors against the rules there.”
Lemon then showed a video of Pelosi deflecting blame for her illicit beauty session, and telling reporters that she would only “take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon” and subsequently “falling for a set-up.”
“So the Speaker of the House is blaming the salon after she didn’t wear a mask indoors,” continued Lemon, who pointed out that the Salon owner, Erica Kious, has denied the set-up accusations to Fox News. “Regardless, this far into the pandemic, the House Speaker should know what is safe and what isn’t. We should all know. It’s our responsibility. Instead of claiming a set-up, it would have been just as easy for the Speaker to say, ‘You know what, I messed up. I should have worn a mask indoors.’”
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While California recently changed the restrictions to allow for indoor services at salons in every county, regardless of coronavirus case count — but with major restrictions and attendance caps in place — San Francisco has not yet implemented those guidelines.
Jonathan DeNardo, the speaker’s stylist for the visit, released a statement Wednesday evening through his legal counsel, in which he sided with Pelosi against Kious, who DeNardo claims explicitly approved the speaker’s visit on a phone call the night before.
The letter, which Nancy Pelosi’s daughter amplified on Twitter, also claimed Kious has been operating illegally at various points in time prior to the visit and that Kious made “several vitriolic and incendiary comments” about Pelosi in the phone call. The letter also alleged Kious has been “actively encouraging and almost forcing stylists” to show up to work so that she can receive payments for the chairs she leases to them.
“This isn’t even political,” Kious told Fox News in an interview. “It’s the fact that she actually came in, didn’t have a mask on, and I just thought about my staff and people not being able to work and make money and provide for their families, and if she is in there comfortably without a mask and feeling safe, then why are we shut down? Why am I not able to have clients come in?”