White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany played a video of COVID-19 “hypocrites” during a briefing on Wednesday, accusing leading Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Governor Gavin Newsom of ignoring their own coronavirus restrictions.
“Democrats seek control,” she said, as a video montage played on screens in the White House briefing room. “These images behind me make clear Democrats’ mindset: Rules for thee, but not for me.”
It is the latest example of what critics say is the misuse of the White House to deliver a partisan, political message.
She opened by celebrating a recent Supreme Court decision to uphold a challenge to restrictions in New York that limited attendance at religious services.
“It is time … past time … to make plain that while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops, but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques,” she said, before introducing what she called a video loop of “images of Democrat hypocrisy.”
They included footage of the moment CNN host Chris Cuomo, brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, apparently leaving quarantine, when it later emerged he had previously gone for a bike ride.
Newsom was featured dining with 11 others at the smart French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley, where London Breed, mayor of San Francisco, was also caught out.
And Pelosi was featured for getting her hair styled indoors, without wearing a mask, at a time when California only allowed salons to operate outdoors. Pelosi later defended her actions, saying that she had been set up.
“Quite clearly, these Democrats do not follow their own edicts. They act in a way that their own citizens are barred from acting,” said McEnany.
