CALIFORNIA Governor Gavin Newsom was pictured dining at a posh restaurant with 11 maskless friends, flouting his own Covid rules. Newsom was apparently photographed at his political adviser’s 50th birthday bash on November 6 at Napa Valley’s French Laundry restaurant. They were celebrating the birthday of lobbyist Jason Kinney – but California guidelines limit large gatherings in an effort […]
CALIFORNIA Governor Gavin Newsom was pictured dining at a posh restaurant with 11 maskless friends, flouting his own Covid rules.
Newsom was apparently photographed at his political adviser’s 50th birthday bash on November 6 at Napa Valley’s French Laundry restaurant.
They were celebrating the birthday of lobbyist Jason Kinney – but California guidelines limit large gatherings in an effort to mitigate the spread of coronavirus as the second wave sweeps the United States.
KTTV obtained a picture of the governor at the party he’s in hot water over after Newcom apologized for his “bad mistake” on Monday.
Though a glass window, 11 people – including Newsom – can be seen sitting around a table and they don’t appear to be wearing face masks.
A witness told the station it was in a closed-off room of the French restaurant and said the partygoers were so loud, they had to close the sliding doors.
The unnamed woman said: “I just happened to look over and realize hey is that Gavin Newsom, who is that? And I did ask one of the waitresses and she confirmed it was.
“I was able to take a couple of photos, I was able to document this especially since nobody was wearing a mask.
“It was a very large group of people shoulder to shoulder, something that he’s always telling us not to do so yeah it was a bit annoying for sure.”
She said that Newsom didn’t seem uncomfortable until he was leaving the restaurant when other people began to “stare” at him.
Newsom said that the gathering was larger than he’d expected when he arrived with his wife after their attendance prompted a huge backlash.
Kinney’s spokesperson told KTTV the guests and restaurant “followed all applicable state and county public health guidance.”
“The guests specifically required outdoor seating,” the rep said. “And that’s outdoor seating, as confirmed and provided by the restaurant.”
Newsom’s Communications Director Nathan Click initially initially said that the party “followed public health guidelines and the restaurant’s health protocols—all in line with the state’s rules for restaurant operation.”
But after the San Francisco Chronicle broke the French Laundry story, Newsom admitted that he should not have gone, reported the Daily Beast.
“I should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner,” he said.
The CA guidelines limit these “social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place,” to just three households.
Representatives for Kinney and Newsom didn’t specify how many households were there but they didn’t deny that it was more than three, per the Chronicle.
Last week, Newsom urged his fellow Californians to follow the state guidelines in a Twitter appeal as ICU admissions surged by 37 percent.
Tighter restrictions are on the horizon in Los Angeles from Friday where Covid cases are surging, which would include a business curfew, reports say.
This will involve outdoor gatherings being limited to a maximum of 15 people for three households – previously, the county had no limit to the number of people from three households.
