The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that an in-person dinner for new Democratic members of the House of Representatives was canceled following a viral photo showing tables being set up for the event—with some questioning the optics in the midst of the CCP virus pandemic.
Pelosi faced backlash after the photo surfaced on social media, appearing to show tables spaced out several feet apart inside the Capitol in Washington. Pelosi was quoted by the Washington Post as saying that the arrangement would be safe and “very spaced.”
However, according to her spokesman, Drew Hammill, the event has since been scuppered for the most part.
“Our office strictly follows the guidance of the Office of Attending Physician, including for this dinner,” he wrote on Friday night. “To be a further model for the nation, this event has been modified to allow Members-elect to pick up their meals to go in a socially-distanced manner.”
Our office strictly follows the guidance of the Office of Attending Physician, including for this dinner. To be a further model for the nation, this event has been modified to allow Members-elect to pick up their meals to go in a socially-distanced manner. https://t.co/s2pSyUOCbm
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) November 13, 2020
Hammill, in a subsequent post, described how House members and staff members were grabbing their boxed meals instead of dining inside the building.
“Members-elect are now picking up their boxed meals and departing the Capitol. There is no group dinner. Members-elect are in DC already for orientation,” he wrote.
While President Donald Trump and some Republicans have come under fire for holding in-person events during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, some Democrats have faced backlash as well. Earlier this year, Pelosi was accused of hypocrisy and flouting virus restrictions in her hometown of San Francisco when she was seen in surveillance video footage not wearing a mask inside a salon, and as the owner of the salon claimed she opened the business for the House speaker amid city-mandated restrictions on similar businesses.
Also in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he made a mistake when he attended a birthday party for a staffer.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser lashed out when she was criticized for traveling to Delaware for the weekend to celebrate Joe Biden after media outlets declared him victorious earlier this month. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was also seen celebrating with a large crowd of people in Brooklyn days later, drawing flack for not socially distancing.
The Epoch Times will wait on calling the presidential race until all challenges are resolved.
