Nancy Pelosi, 80, accused eSalon SF of setting her up. Erica Kious, 44, the owner of the salon located in Cow Hollow, San Francisco, California, United States denied the accusation of the 52nd speaker of the U.S. house of representatives.
On August 31, 2020, Pelosi had her hair done at eSalon SF. On September 1, 2020, Kious released footage showing the congresswoman from California walking through the salon with wet hair and without a mask covering her mouth or nose followed by independent hairstylist Jonathan DeNardo, who was wearing a black face mask.
Pelosi is known for strongly supporting the use of face mask amid the pandemic. Her deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill told CNN that eSalon SF offered for her to come in that day and told her San Francisco allowed them to have one customer at a time in the business.
“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,” Pelosi said during a press conference in San Francisco on September 2, 2020. “As it turns out, it was a setup. It was a set up and I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”
On the same day, Kious denied that it was a setup in an interview with Tucker Carlson on the Fox News talk show “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” She said Pelosi or her assistant had called the eSalon SF stylist and had made the appointment.
“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,” Kious told Carlson. “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.”
However, DeNardo corroborated Pelosi’s claim that it was a setup. He gave his side of the story through his lawyer Matthew Soleimanpour.
“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,” Soleimanpour said in a statement obtained by Fox News. “Mr. DeNardo’s name has now been dragged through the mud for simply following Ms. Kious’ recommendations.”
Kious had approved Pelosi’s visit to eSalon SF, according to DeNardo. Here is his full statement:
CONAN Daily 