A spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she complied with rules that were presented to her at a San Francisco hair salon where she had her hair washed and dried Monday afternoon after the shop "offered" for her to come in for an appointment, commenting after video surfaced of her walking through the closed business without a mask.
"The Speaker always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements," Drew Hammill, deputy chief of staff for Pelosi, told Fox News affiliate KTVU in San Francisco. "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."
Security footage revealed on Fox News Tuesday showed the California Democrat walking through the business, eSalon, with her hair wet and without a mask on her face. It appeared from the video that the speaker had a mask or other cloth covering around her neck.
Face coverings are mandatory in San Francisco in most public settings, and under rules that took effect Tuesday, salons are now only allowed to cut hair outdoors. The shop Pelosi visited was still officially closed on Monday.
Owner Erica Kious told Fox News Tuesday that Pelosi's office had made the appointment with a stylist who rents space in her Union Street salon on Sunday.
"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," Kious said.
She also said that even though she got $12,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans and was able to install safety measures, she expects that her shop will still close in 30 to 60 days because she has lost most of her customers due to the pandemic and conditions in the city.