Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is doubling down on the claim her maskless, indoor hair appointment at a San Fransisco salon was a “set up.” Instead of taking responsibility for violating her own district’s COVID-19 mandates, Pelosi is dragging down a small business owner single mother of two.
A tweet by Pelosi’s daughter, Christine, shares a letter from a lawyer for the cosmetologist who did Nancy’s hair appointment, throwing the salon owner under the bus, with the hashtag, “#setup.”
The letter alleges that the hairdresser was nervous to grant Pelosi the appointment but was forced into it by salon owner Erica Kious. The letter also accuses Kious and her salon of a historical violation of COVID-19 mandates since the shutdown and claims that she purposefully intended to set Pelosi up by booking and filming the appointment.
#setup pic.twitter.com/lALD9zdEC7
— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) September 3, 2020
In the same thread, Christine lashed out against the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets, accusing them of ignoring facts to build a more interesting narrative.
Perhaps … but never underestimate the @sfchronicle and other media outlets’ penchant of letting the #facts get in the way of their story. We shall see what they do with actual firsthand info.
— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) September 3, 2020
Despite urging Americans to wear a mask, follow CDC guidelines, and abide by local orders that shuttered some businesses for six months, Pelosi booked an appointment with ESalonSF to receive a blow-out. During the appointment, Pelosi can be seen on security cameras walking around inside the salon without a mask, both in violation of San Francisco’s current COVID-19 orders.
Pelosi first accused the salon owner of creating the scenario as a setup on Wednesday, alleging that she wasn’t aware of the rules and that the shop owner deliberately filmed the entire appointment.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to…many times…It was a setup, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup,” Pelosi said.
“I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up,” she added.
Kious defended herself on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News Wednesday, where she said it was “hurtful” for Pelosi to take advantage of her and her struggling business and then accuse her of orchestrating a setup.
“There was no way I could’ve set that up,” Kious said. “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 and set her up. So that is absolutely false.”
According to Kious, the backlash she is receiving because of the Speaker’s actions might force her and her two children “to leave the community she’s serviced for 12 years.”
“Since this has happened, I have received nothing but hate text messages, death threats, [saying that] they’re going to burn my hair salon down,” she said. ” My Yelp page is just unbelievable with bad reviews.”
“It’s just sad that my community is pulling this … saying that I threw her under the bus when I didn’t. So that’s hurtful, but yeah, I think I’m pretty much done now,” she added.
While CNN reporting initally characterized the incident as a “misunderstanding,” even CNN’s Don Lemon spoke out about the Speaker’s actions, saying that Pelosi should know better than blaming a small business owner for something Pelosi herself should have been more careful about.
“This far into the pandemic, the House Speaker should know what is safe and what isn’t… Instead of claiming a setup, would have been just as easy for the Speaker to say, you know what — I messed up,” he said.
CNN DON LEMON: “This far into the pandemic, the House Speaker should know what is safe and what isn’t… Instead of claiming a setup, would have been just as easy for the Speaker to say, you know what — I messed up.”
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) September 3, 2020
