Pelosi says hair salon should apologize for ‘set-up’ visit
SAN
FRANCISCO (AP) — A testy Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she takes
responsibility for trusting the word of a San Francisco hair salon that
it was OK to come in for a solo visit — even though the city still does
not allow indoor beauty services because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But
the Democratic House Speaker called Monday’s visit a “set-up” and said
the salon owes her an apology for misrepresenting city health orders.
“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 …
we’re able to accommodate people one person at a time, and that we can
set up that time, I trusted that,” Pelosi told reporters Wednesday. “As
it turns out, it was a set-up.”
“I take responsibility for falling for a set-up,” she said.
Pelosi
is facing fierce backlash after Fox News Channel aired surveillance
footage from the salon that showed her walking through the salon with
her hair wet and with a mask around her neck rather than on her face. In
the clip, a masked stylist follows her.
Critics, including
President Donald Trump, called her a hypocrite and asked why she did not
know the coronavirus-related rules in her home city.
Erica Kious,
owner of eSalon in the city’s upscale Marina district, told Fox News
that she rents chairs to stylists and one of them informed her in
advance that Pelosi wanted a wash and blow dry. California guidelines on
salons vary by county, but stringent San Francisco officials have not
yet permitted indoor salons to open.
Kious said she considered
Pelosi getting her hair done “a slap in the face” to struggling business
owners. She did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated
Press.
Health order violations can be punished by a fine,
imprisonment or both. But San Francisco has stressed education over
enforcement and has been reluctant to penalize businesses and
individuals.
Pelosi said Wednesday she would not answer any more
questions about the visit and asked at one point whether reporters had
any questions “about the fact that people are dying,” referring to the
HEROES Act legislation she called the news conference to address.
A reporter asked why she was not wearing a mask in the brief clip.
“I just had my hair washed. I don’t wear a mask when I’m washing my hair. Do you wear a mask when you’re washing your hair? I always have a mask,” Pelosi said.
Associated Press news associate Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix contributed to this report.