November 18, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom apologized for making a “bad mistake” in attending a large dinner party while restricting such gatherings for the rest of the state, but newly-discovered photographs suggest his initial explanation of the scandal still failed to take responsibility for the full extent of his hypocrisy.
As LifeSiteNews covered last week, Newsom and his wife dined at the prestigious restaurant The French Laundry with “people from several other households” for the birthday party of political adviser Jason Kinney. The California Department of Public Health says that “gatherings that include more than three households are prohibited. This includes everyone present, including hosts and guests.”
“I want to apologize to you because I need to preach and practice, not just preach and not practice,” Newsom said while describing the dinner as outdoors. But on Tuesday, Fox 11 published photos showing Newsom and his dinner companions seated in a part of the restaurant that appears to be indoors:
EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he's in hot water over. The photos call into question just how outdoors the dinner was. A witness who took photos tells us his group was so loud, the sliding doors had to be closed. 10pm on @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/gtOVEwa864
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 18, 2020
Newsom’s office refused to comment further, but a Kinney spokesman insisted to Fox Los Angeles that the area constitutes outdoor seating, despite its appearance. The woman who snapped the photos, and wished to remain anonymous, disagrees.
“While we were there, we realized there was a very loud party going on in a room 20 feet from us,” she said. “It was a bit annoying since you’re spending hard-earned money to go there. It got louder and louder and so they had some sliding glass doors that they were able to close, so then it was a closed-off room, but you could still hear them with how loud they were.”
“I just happened to look over and realize, hey, is that Gavin Newsom, who is that?” the woman continued. “And I did ask one of the waitresses and she confirmed it was, so 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.”
Newsom joins a long list of Democrat politicians, liberal personalities, and left-wing activists who have flouted their own coronavirus rules to riot and/or protest (Black Lives Matter activists); get their hair done (Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi); disregard masks (CNN’s Chris Cuomo), commit adultery (Neil Ferguson, the U.K. professor whose errant predictions of millions of COVID-19 deaths led to many lockdowns), hold political celebrations victories (Joe Biden supporters), mourn the dead (attendees of the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia), or engage in “nonessential” holiday travel (Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker).