Donald Trump seizes on Nancy Pelosi's claim she was 'set up' when she was filmed maskless in closed hair salon, saying make the owner Speaker as White House trolls her by playing security footage at briefing
President Donald Trump on Thursday mocked Nancy Pelosi for saying she was set up by a San Francisco hair salon, calling her 'crazy' and asking why a speaker could be 'so easily set up?'
'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?' he tweeted.
He even suggested salon owner Erica Kious should be speaker instead. 'Maybe the Beauty Parlor owner should be running the House of Representatives instead of Crazy Nancy?,' the president wrote in a followup tweet.
Pelosi's office shot back, asking why Trump was focused on 'this nonsense' during the coronavirus pandemic.
'Does anyone want a President of the United States who is more focused on this nonsense rather than crushing the virus and saving American lives?,' her spokesman Drew Hammill wrote on Twitter in response.
Pelosi said she was set up by the salon she visited on Monday, where video footage showed her getting her hair done while not wearing a face mask. Her stylist defended the speaker, suggesting the owner of the eSalon had deliberately set up Pelosi and had authorized the controversial hair appointment.
But the White House doubled down on its attack on the Speaker, who has had a particularly contentious relationship with President Trump over the past year.
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany came out swinging at the top of her press briefing on Thursday, playing on a loop the footage showing Pelosi in the salon - hair wet, face mask around her neck - as she blasted the Speaker, accusing her of holding up negotiations on another round of coronavirus relief legislation to get her hair done.
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany came out swinging at the top of her press briefing on Thursday, playing on a loop the footage showing Pelosi in the salon as she blasted the speaker for holding up negotiations on another round of coronavirus relief legislation
infamous scene: McEnany put the video of a maskless Pelosi in the salon, which was supposed to be closed for COVID safety, on loop at the start of her White House briefing
'Make her speaker.' Erica Kious, right, the owner of the e Salon SF, told Tucker Carlson, left, she has received death threats in the wake of exposing the House Speaker's trip to her business on Monday.
Pelosi's spokesman snapped back at President Trump
'Nancy Pelosi was found in San Francisco at a hair salon where she was indoors, even though salons in California are not only open for outdoor service. Apparently the rules do not apply to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She wants small businesses to stay shut down but only reopen for her convenience. Do as I say, not as I do, that's Nancy Pelosi,' McEnany said in a monologue on the speaker.
San Francisco beauty parlors weren't supposed to open until September 1, the day after the speaker had her treatment. New restrictions in San Francisco allow hair salons to operate outdoors, but certain procedures - such as shampooing, color and chemical treatments - are still not allowed.
McEnany tied the salon incident to the frozen negotiations on another round of relief funding tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
'Nancy Pelosi is holding up $1.3 trillion in relief for the American people, while getting special access to the very kind of small businesses that the money would support, businesses like this hair salon,' she charged.
Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have been in negotiations with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Mark Mnuchin on another round of coronavirus relief. Talks are at a stand still.
House Democrats passed a $3 trillion package in May but it stalled in the Senate. Senate Republicans countered with $1 trillion package earlier this summer. Pelosi and Schumer offered a $2 trillion compromise that Republicans rejected. Things have been stuck from there.
But McEnany blasted the Speaker for the salon trip.
'Nancy Pelosi is demanding an apology from a single mother and small business owner who has received threats since Nancy Pelosi's comments against her salon,' she noted. 'Nancy Pelosi, you ought to apologize to the American people or better yet, come back to Washington and get to work for hardworking Americans like this salon owner that you maligned and demanded an apology from.'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she fell for a 'set up' by the salon where she had her hair done and that it owes her an apology
Speaker Pelosi said 'there's more' to the situation and it 'was clearly a set up'
Pelosi said the salon owes her an apology for setting her up.
'I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon I've been to over the years many times, and 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 setup,' she said.
'It was a set up, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup,' she added.
At times during her press conference, the speaker ran her hands through her hair, which had its normal perfectly coifed look.
She then turned to blast the eSalon owners, saying they owe her an apology. And, she threatened, there could be more to the situation than the camera revealed.
''There's more to this that I'm not going to ask to the motivation for a salon to say to me, 'Yes, come in' and then they go for me. It was clearly a set up,' she said.
'I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up,' she added.
And she said she wasn't wearing a face mask because she just had her hair washed, asking the reporters questioning her if they wore a face mask when washing their hair.
'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 wear a mask,' she said. 'And that picture is when I just came out of the bowl.'
Jonathan DeNardo, the San Francisco cosmetologist who did Pelosi's hair before the city allowed salons to operate again, released a statement through his lawyer on Wednesday.
The hair stylist appeared to support Pelosi's accusation that she was 'set up' by the salon.
Jonathan DeNardo (pictured), the San Francisco cosmetologist who did Nancy Pelosi's hair before the city allowed salons to operate indoors, released a statement through his lawyer on Wednesday
Nancy Pelosi's stylist has defended the House Speaker, claiming salon owner Erica Kious (pictured) authorized the Democrat's hair appointment
'The fact that Ms. Kious is now objecting to Speaker Pelosi's presence at eSalon, and from a simple surface-level review of Ms. Kious' political leanings, it appears Ms. Kious is furthering a set-up of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations,' the statement read.
'Mr. DeNardo's name has now been dragged through the mud for simply following Ms. Kious' recommendations.'
Mr DeNardo also alleged the salon owner has been operating during the stay-at-home orders as far back as April.
It comes after Speaker Pelosi said Wednesday that she fell for a 'set up' by the salon and added the salon owes her an apology.
The statement confirmed that DeNardo had provided stylist services to Pelosi at eSalon on August 31 and claimed that salon owner Erica Kious had given permission for the appointment.
It read: 'Mr. DeNardo received advance approval from Ms. Kious the day prior to the appointment during a telephone discussion on August 29, 2020 at 9:26 pm, wherein Mr. DeNardo advised Ms.Kious that he would not proceed with Speaker Pelosi's appointment without Ms. Kious' authorization.
'Ms. Kious took special interest in the appointment during this telephone call, wherein she made several vitriolic and incendiary comments about Speaker Pelosi and her purported responsibility for temporarily suspending operations of Ms. Kious' business, despite such orders actually being put into place not by Speaker Pelosi, but by Governor Gavin Newsome and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
'Ultimately, Ms. Kious authorized Mr. DeNardo to proceed with Speaker Pelosi's appointment.'
The statement, issued by lawyer Matthew Soleimanpour, also alleged that Mr DeNardo had proof that Ms Kious had been operating her salon as far back as April, in defiance of the state's stay-at-home orders.
'This office is in possession of photographs, videos and witness information that Ms. Kious, contrary to her priorstatements 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,' it read.
The owner of the Esalon denied setting the Democrat up.
Erica Kious, the owner of the e Salon SF, told Tucker Carlson she has received death threats in the wake of exposing the House Speaker's trip to her business on Monday.
She said: '[Pelosi] had called the stylist, or her assistant did, and had made the appointment so the appointment was already booked so there was no way I could have set that up.
'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 and set her up so that's absolutely false.'
Speaking Wednesday Kious added: 'For the past six months, we are pretty much done. We have lost at least 60 per cent of our clients, I've lost the majority of my staff. So six months is a long time to be closed down.
'Just to see her come in, especially her not wearing a mask, that's what really got to me. This isn't political, it's the fact she came in and didn't have a mask on.
'If she is in there comfortably then why are we shut down?'
Kious, who rents out chairs to different stylists, said since the release of the footage Tuesday evening she has received threats to burn down her salon.
The eSalon in San Francisco where the speaker had her hair washed and blown dry
