“Morning Joe” on Thursday called out the “hypocrisy” of California Gov. Gavin Newsom attending a dinner party with multiple households that appeared to flout state guidance for social gatherings.
Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Newsom had attended a dinner at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley, where people from more than three households were gathered to celebrate the birthday of one of Newsom’s political advisers, Jason Kinney. Though Newsom has apologized for attending the dinner and called it a “bad mistake,” since then, new photos obtained by Fox 11 News appear to show the governor seated in close quarters, without a mask on, next to multiple people — including California Medical Association officials.
“I can’t even,” “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski also said.
“You look at this picture of the governor of California with lobbyists jammed into a closed room. Listen, I’m not so risk-averse, I haven’t completely stopped living during this pandemic, but I look at that picture and I’m like, ‘What planet are they from?’” co-host Joe Scarborough said. “Do they not read newspapers about how one person can come to the table and in a closed setting will infect everybody there, who will go out and infect another 10 people, who will go out and infect another 10 people.”
“This is a problem you’ve seen up close at the White House, that sort of recklessness. The problem with Gavin Newsom, too, is that he sends kids home, right? Closes the schools while his kids go to private schools,” Scarborough added.
“It certainly reeks of hypocrisy where he has told residents of California — where they have had lots of strict lockdowns — urged them to stay home, avoid gatherings as the holidays appear, and he, of course, partook in one,” analyst and White House reporter for the Associated Press Jonathan Lemire said.