President Donald Trump mocked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday morning after she was caught visiting a closed hair salon earlier this week, which she subsequently accused of tricking her in a setup.
“Crazy Nancy Pelosi said she was ‘set up’ by the beauty parlor owner when she improperly had the salon opened (and didn’t wear a MASK!). Does anyone want a Speaker of the House who can be so easily SET UP,” tweeted Trump.
Crazy Nancy Pelosi said she was “set up” by the beauty parlor owner when she improperly had the salon opened (and didn’t wear a MASK!). Does anyone want a Speaker of the House who can be so easily SET UP?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2020
“Nancy Pelosi says she got ‘set up’ by a Beauty Parlor owner. Maybe the Beauty Parlor owner should be running the House of Representatives instead of Crazy Nancy,” tweeted Trump later in the day.
Nancy Pelosi says she got “set up” by a Beauty Parlor owner. Maybe the Beauty Parlor owner should be running the House of Representatives instead of Crazy Nancy?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2020
During a White House press conference, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany played footage of the notorious visit on loop, saying that instead of working in the halls of Congress, Pelosi was indoors at a San Francisco hair salon.
“Nancy Pelosi, you ought to apologize to the American people. Or better yet, come back to Washington and get to work for hard-working Americans, like this salon owner you maligned,” said McEnany.
According to The Los Angeles Times, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) allowed hair salons to re-open for business on Monday—the same day as Pelosi’s hair salon visit—with heavy modifications. San Francisco has not yet adopted those guidelines, and in-person hair salon visits are still not allowed in the city.
Erica Kious, the owner of eSalon, which rents out chairs to independent stylists, denied setting up Pelosi in an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Wednesday evening.
“She had called the stylist, or her assistant did, and made the appointment, so the appointment was already booked, so there was no way I could’ve set that up,” said the owner. “And I’ve had a camera system in there for five years. I mean, I didn’t go in there and turn cameras on as soon as she walked in to set her up. So that’s absolutely false.”
However, Jonathan DeNardo, the speaker’s stylist for the visit, released a statement from his legal counsel backing Pelosi, and accused Kious of okaying the visit in a phone call the night before. The owner also allegedly made several “vitriolic and incendiary comments” about Pelosi during the phone call, and has been “actively encouraging and almost forcing stylists” to show up to work for her own financial benefit, claims the statement.