'Queen of Hypocrisy': Pelosi Under Fire After Removing Mask in Breach of Capitol Police Guidelines
23:58 GMT 30.07.2021 (Updated: 08:57 GMT 15.11.2022)
© REUTERS / ELIZABETH FRANTZ
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The recent CDC regulation saying that masks are mandatory indoors came out several days ago but has already sparked heated squabbles between its advocates and its critics. When one of the latter, GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, appeared to slam the mandate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dubbed him a "moron".
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to have removed her face mask for several seconds for a photo op on Friday, and the video of her doing so went viral, with critics lashing out at her for "breaking her own mandate".
In a video, Pelosi is seen standing in front of the US flag, accompanied by a newly-sworn-in congressman from Texas, Representative Jake Ellzey. As cameras flash, the House Speaker is seen ditching her mask, just one day after Capitol Police officers were instructed to arrest certain people who refused to wear masks on the House side of the Capitol.
In light of Pelosi imposing her own restrictions for mask eschewers in the House chambers, netizens and her Republican counterparts appeared to be outraged over what they saw as a display of hypocrisy.
Nancy Pelosi takes off mask, breaking her own mandate, for a photo. pic.twitter.com/dxGIs4zHtT
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) July 30, 2021
Users wondered where the Capitol police were as "a COVID violation" was "in progress".
Where’s the Capitol police
— JOHN MURRAY (@JOHNMURRAY80) July 30, 2021
ARREST THAT WOMAN
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) July 30, 2021
I believe we have a covid violation in progress, all units swarm!
— David (@deplorable801) July 30, 2021
Other users noted that this was not the first time Pelosi had ignored mask regulations.
Is Speaker Pelosi going to be fined or written up or anything for not properly wearing her mask?
— PARIS (@PARISDENNARD) July 30, 2021
It might be one of those powerful liberal privilege situations where the mandates set for everyone else doesn’t apply to them. https://t.co/ZdS63wWeYk
Queen of hypocrisy Pelosi reinstates House mask rule, while not wearing a mask. I sued her in federal court yesterday for this nonsense. pic.twitter.com/vqk8iqvUsz
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 28, 2021
Notably, Pelosi was merciless to those who spoke against the mask mandate, particularly GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whom she labeled "a moron" after he called the reinstatement of the regulation a "decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state."
He was not alone in protesting the new mask mandate, as dozens of Republicans, maskless, marched into the Capitol earlier in the week with the demand to "end the mask charade".
The guidelines envisaging Capitol Police officers arresting maskless visitors came on 29 July, with the new regulations ignoring a person's vaccination status - a detail that particularly angered its critics. The move by CDC health officials to impose new mask rules was dubbed by conservative critics "an abuse of power".
