An attorney for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hair stylist says Erica Kious, the owner of the San Francisco salon the congresswoman visited earlier this week, is "furthering a setup" to embarrass her for ignoring local rules about mask wearing and business closures.
"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 setup of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations," Matthew Soleimanpour, the attorney for hair stylist Jonathan DeNardo, said in a statement, reports Fox News. "Mr. DeNardo's name has now been dragged through the mud for simply following Ms. Kious' recommendations."
DeNardo has been at eSalon for six years and has communicated regularly with Kious, including over the weekend, when the salon owner on Sunday told him during a phone call that he had her approval to do Pelosi's hair on Monday. Salons in San Francisco were officially reopened on Tuesday, but for outdoor haircuts only.
Through his attorney, DeNardo said Kious was highly critical of Pelosi, who said Wednesday Kious set her up and owes her an apology.
"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," said the statement, which was obtained by KRON-TV in San Francisco.
Soleimanpour added that he has evidence that Kious has been styling clients' hair, despite stay-at-home orders and has been "almost forcing stylists" to work so she could keep getting lease payments.
Kious, meanwhile, told Fox News that she could not have set up the video of Pelosi walking through her business without a mask.
"I've had a camera system in there for five years," she said. "I mean, I didn't go in there and turn cameras on as soon as she walked in and set her up. So that is absolutely false."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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