San Francisco hair salon owner in feud with Nancy Pelosi talks to Tucker
Erica Kious denies Nancy Pelosi's claim that she was set up after video surfaces of the House speaker's maskless visit.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has been swept up in a wild controversy over a discrete trip to a San Franciso hair salon in violation of state and local ordinances amid the coronavirus pandemic, but MSNBC's viewers were completely kept in the dark on Wednesday.
In security footage obtained by Fox News and time-stamped Monday at 3:08 p.m. PT, the California political powerhouse is seen walking through ESalonSF with wet hair, and without a mask over her mouth or nose.
On Wednesday, Pelosi remained defiant, accusing the salon of "setting her up" and called on the struggling business to apologize.
However, the growing controversy was apparently not significant enough to make it onto MSNBC's airwaves.
NBC MEDIA REPORTER HAMMERED FOR DISMISSING CONTROVERSY OVER PELOSI SALON TRIP
It's worth noting that the speaker did appear on the liberal network on Monday evening for an interview on "All In with Chris Hayes," which aired live roughly two hours after the salon visit.
During that interview, Pelosi criticized President Trump for giving his Republican National Convention acceptance speech before a live audience on the South Lawn at the White House and scolded the event for the lack of mask-wearing and social distancing among attendees.
"He slapped science right in the face and what a bad example that was," Pelosi told Hayes.
The lack of coverage on MSNBC was alluded to by its own media reporter Dylan Byers, who mocked the uproar over the Pelosi controversy.
"America is beset by internal problems and external threats," he wrote. "We face severe political and cultural tensions, a global pandemic and threats from foreign adversaries. But I, for one, believe there is no issue so pressing today as a legislator's visit to a San Francisco hair salon."
CNN'S DON LEMON CALLS OUT PELOSI OVER SALON TRIP, KNOCKS 'SETUP' CLAIM
The NBC media reporter then also swiped at a CNN article suggesting Pelosi had handed President Trump a "campaign gift" with her salon dustup.
"I mean seriously, wtf is this?" Byers reacted.
The dustup, though, was ostensibly significant enough that even CNN anchor Don Lemon offered a rare scolding of the House Speaker on Wednesday night.
"This far into the pandemic this House Speaker should know what is safe and what isn't," Lemon said. "We should all know. It's our responsibility."
The liberal anchor continued, "Instead of claiming a setup, it would have been just as easy for the speaker to say, 'You know what, I messed up. I should have worn a mask indoors.'"
During an exclusive interview with Fox News on Tuesday, salon owner Erica Kious cast Pelosi’s visit as part of a double standard.
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“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 told Fox News, adding that she “can’t believe” the speaker didn’t have a mask on. (From the footage, it appears Pelosi had some kind of covering around her neck.)
“We’re supposed to look up to this woman, right?” Kious said. “It is just disturbing.”
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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