SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – The White House on Thursday began its press briefing by playing a video showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi getting her hair done in a San Francisco salon earlier this week in violation of local public health orders due to the coronavirus.
The video shows Pelosi donning a hair cutting cape gown, her hair wet and no face mask on as she moves between areas of eSalon on Union Street Monday.
“Nancy Pelosi was not in the halls of Congress when I asked where she was,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said. “She was not working in good faith to make a deal for the American people.”
“Nancy Pelosi was found in San Francisco at a hair salon where she was indoors even though salons in California are…only open for outdoor service,” she continued. “Apparently, the rules do not apply to Nancy Pelosi.”
The press secretary accused Pelosi of “holding up” coronavirus relief by not reaching a deal with Republicans and the White House within the past month while getting “special access” to the eSalon.
“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 that you maligned and demanded an apology from,” she said.
Shortly after, President Donald Trump tweeted, “Nancy Pelosi says she got ‘setup’ by a Beauty Parlor owner. Maybe the Beauty Parlor owner should be running the House of Representatives instead of Crazy Nancy?”
Pelosi on Wednesday claimed she was “clearly set up” by the salon owner, who she said had her come to the salon for an appointment, then sent the video to Fox News.
The city began allowing outdoor salon services on Tuesday, a day after Pelosi’s appointment.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times, and that when they said that we’re able to accommodate people one person at a time and that we could set up that time, I trusted that. As it turns out, it was a setup. So I take responsibility for falling for the setup,” Pelosi said at a press conference Wednesday.
The man who styled her confirms the story, and Mayor London Breed is backing her up.
“[It’s] Blown up in the way that it has distracted us from the real issue. The fact is, we don’t have good solid federal leadership that is helping to facilitate. Over 180,000 Americans have died as a result of this virus and had we had what we needed from day one from this federal administration then we would probably not be in as bad a situation as we are,” Mayor Breed said.
A statement released by the attorney of the hairstylist, Jonathan DeNardo, who did Pelosi’s hair Monday, said:
“This office is in possession of photographs, videos and witness information that Ms. Kious [the owner of eSalon], contrary to her prior statements to the press, has actually been operating her business during the stay-at-home orders and similar executive orders limiting in-store operations since as far back as April 2020.
Ms. Kious is seen on photographs and video footage styling various clients’ hair, ignoring social distancing guidelines, and not wearing protective equipment (masks), as recently as a few days prior to Speaker Pelosi’s arrival at eSalon on August 31, 2020.
The attorney continued to say that the owner goes as far as forcing stylists to violate such orders for her own financial benefit.
WFLA’s sister station KRON4 reached out to the salon owner on Wednesday and has yet to hear back.
