House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is defending herself from criticism of a recent visit to a salon and claiming the incident was a set-up.
On Wednesday, Pelosi addressed criticism of her recent visit to eSalon in San Francisco, California, which reportedly violated local COVID-19 restrictions.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times,” Pelosi told reporters.
She continued, “And that when they said, ‘We’re able to accommodate people, one person at a time and that we can set up that time,’ I trusted that.”
“As it turns out, it was a set-up. So I take responsibility for falling for a set-up,” she added.
Additionally, she said the owner should apologize, “I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up.”
Watch Pelosi’s remarks below:
Here's Nancy Pelosi blaming the salon:
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) September 2, 2020
"As it turns out, it was a setup. I take responsibility for falling for a setup." pic.twitter.com/Udfl6G3g2G
On Tuesday afternoon, a video surfaced of Pelosi walking through the salon the previous day with wet-hair and without a face covering.
Salons were only allowed to open for outdoor services on September 1.
Erica Kious, the owner of the salon, told Fox News, “It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work.”
After the video surfaced, Pelosi’s office released a statement addressing the video, “The Speaker always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements.”
“This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business. The Speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment,” the statement continued.
However, Kious told Fox News that one of the independent stylists who rents chairs from her scheduled the appointment. Additionally, she claimed that she cannot “control” the stylists because “they’re not paying” right now.