Nancy Pelosi's Hair Stylist Says Salon Owner Approved Appointment, Is 'Furthering a Set Up' of the Speaker

Whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi was "set up" for a political hit job when she got her hair done at a San Francisco salon depends on who a person chooses to believe: the salon owner or the speaker and her stylist.

Pelosi had her hair styled at eSalon on Monday, and leaked security footage from the appointment showed her walking from one room to another without a mask. At the time of her appointment, San Francisco hair salons were still closed for business, only to open for outdoor services on Tuesday, making Pelosi a lightning rod for criticism.

Beyond these basic, inarguable facts of what transpired, the rest of the story is largely left up to he said, she said, she said.

Jonathan DeNardo, Pelosi's hairstylist, said in a statement through his attorney, Matthew Soleimanpour, that he spoke to Erica Kious, the salon's owner, on Saturday night. During the conversation, DeNardo said he told Kious that he would not continue with Pelosi's appointment without her approval.

"Ms. Kious took special interest in the appointment during this telephone call, wherein she made several vitriolic and incendiary comments about Speaker Pelosi...," the statement said. "Ultimately, Ms. Kious authorized Mr. DeNardo to proceed with Speaker Pelosi's appointment."

Newsweek reached out to Erica Kious for her response to this but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Kious, however, told Fox News that DeNardo contacted her on Sunday night and a screenshot of a text message she received said, "I'll be there at 2:45 tomorrow. Pelosi assistant just messaged me to do her hair." When she received the message, she told Fox News she questioned if she should "let this happen" and what she should do.

The salon owner called Pelosi's decision to get her hair done when salons were unable to operate a "slap in the face," but the statement from DeNardo's attorney questioned the sincerity of her outrage. Soleimanpour said it appeared she was "furthering a set-up of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations."

Pelosi also called the appointment a "set up" during remarks to reporters on Wednesday and said the salon told her they were able to accommodate one customer at a time.

"I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I've been to over the years many times ... I take responsibility for falling for a set up," Pelosi said.

Kious denied it was a "set up," during an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, saying the "appointment was already booked so there's no way I could have set that up." She added that the camera system that captured the footage of Pelosi was in place for years and that she didn't turn them on specifically to entrap the speaker.

She said if they were able to take one person at a time, she would be open, which she is not. Kious, a single mother of two, said she lost 60 percent of her clients and the majority of her staff since closing down to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

While DeNardo's attorney's statement insinuated Kious' "political leanings" were at play, the salon owner told Carlson it wasn't political.