House Speaker Nancy Pelosi often urges her fellow Democrats to focus on “kitchen table issues” that Americans care about most, despite her own lifestyle of the rich and famous.
The 79-year-old career politician was recorded on video Friday dining at The Ivy, an iconic Beverly Hills eatery, where she munched on a $35 salad as an army of Secret Service and state police blocked off the road for the special occasion, X17 reports.
“California Representative Nancy Pelosi isn’t afraid of spending a little dough on a good salad!” the video description read. “The House Speaker dined at the iconic Ivy restaurant in Beverly Hills with her family, escorted by a HUGE entourage of Secret Service security.”
The footage shows at least five vehicles – three large SUVs and two state police cruisers – waiting for Pelosi and family in front of the restaurant, with one of the state police temporarily blocking traffic to ensure their safety.
Moments later, Pelosi emerged from the establishment toting a pricey designer handbag and appeared to chat briefly before loading into a black bullet-proof Suburban. State police cruisers pulled ahead and followed behind as the vehicle and another silver Suburban emerged onto Robertson Boulevard.
The five-vehicle procession, which included a third black Suburban bringing up the rear, blared flashing lights and sirens as the drivers ignored the traffic light and turned onto Alden Drive.
The vehicles appeared to ignore another stop sign at George Burns Road before heading under an overpass for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The scene certainly wasn’t the first time Pelosi has raised eyebrows for special VIP treatment while she’s out and about.
Locals wrote in to the St. Helena Star in 2016 to vent about a Pelosi shoe shopping excursion that highlighted her privileged position in Congress. Paul Smith described how he was taken aback when a black SUV ignored local traffic laws to park in front of a fire hydrant to drop off an elderly woman at the high-end shoe boutique Footcandy, The American Mirror reported.
Smith explained a local police officer seemingly lectured the driver of the “large perfectly polished and gleaming black SUV” but did nothing about the obvious infractions.
“My friends and I are puzzled, say goodbye, and I walk south on Main,” Smith wrote. “As I approach Footcandy, Nancy Pelosi comes out with her shopping bags and the man assists her into the awaiting SUV. The SUV, with lights flashing, bursts back into southbound traffic.
“Wow! Privilege? Power? Whose SUV, taxpayers?” Smith questioned. “Say it ain’t so, Nancy.”
That episode prompted a response from St. Helena Police Chief Bill Imboden, who wrote that similar complaints aren’t uncommon but there’s little locals can do about it because Pelosi is immune from the laws everyone else is expected to follow.
“The St. Helena Police Department has received similar complaints in the past, and on occasion we come across a scenario like what is mentioned in the complaint. Unfortunately local law enforcement has not authority to prevent this type of activity,” Imboden wrote.
“The U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Secret Service provide dignitary protection for certain high-ranking members of the Federal Government, and this protection comes with the discretion to violate some state and local laws (illegal U-turns, parking in a red zone) under the guise of providing the best possible protection for the dignitary,” he wrote. “As the Chief of Police in St. Helena I can assure you we don’t like or condone their behavior, but I can tell you from personal experience that while they sympathize with the position they put us in, they will not alter their tactics to appease us.”
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