Gavin Newsom apologizes for attending French Laundry party: ‘I made a bad mistake’

Gov. Gavin Newsom apologized Monday for attending a birthday party earlier this month, acknowledging his actions undermined the message he’s been preaching for months as he asked other Californians to avoid gathering with their friends and family.

“I made a bad mistake,” Newsom said. “The spirit of what I’m preaching all the time was contradictory, and I’ve got to own that, so I’m going to apologize to you.”

Newsom says when he arrived at his friend and political adviser Jason Kinney’s party at the famed French Laundry restaurant, the crowd at the table was bigger than he anticipated. He should have left then, he said, but instead he and his wife chose to stay.

Monday marked Newsom’s first press conference since the San Francisco Chronicle reported he and his wife attended the party. Although Newsom says he complied with his administration’s rules about restaurant dining and sat outside, the Chronicle reported that the event brought together more than three different households.

The Newsom administration’s guidance for dining allows restaurants to sit different households together within the same party and doesn’t say how many households can dine together. Separate guidance from the administration on outdoor gatherings is more stringent, saying that no more than three households should gather, that they should remain outdoors, wear masks and stay at least six feet apart.

Newsom said that when he arrived at the Napa County restaurant around 4:30 p.m. for the party, which had started at 4 p.m., other guests were already seated at the table. He says he should have acknowledged then that the gathering was too large for him to responsibly attend.

“Instead of sitting down, I should have stood up and walked back, got in my car and drove back to my house,” he said. “I shouldn’t have been there.”

Newsom said the party was the only time he has dined at a restaurant with other families since he imposed sweeping statewide restrictions in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He says he has dined out at restaurants just two other times since March, both times with just his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

In the meantime, Newsom and his administration are urging Californians to forego traditional Thanksgiving gatherings and not congregate with extended family to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Nationwide, COVID-19 rates are escalating rapidly, a worrying sign as the country enters the winter holiday season when people will be tempted to gather indoors where the virus spreads more easily.

On Monday, he kicked California’s coronavirus restrictions into a higher gear, moving most counties into the state’s most restrictive COVID-19 reopening tier. Starting tomorrow, 94% of California residents will live in counties in that most restrictive tier. He also broadened the state’s mask mandate and said he’s considering a curfew for California.

Asked by a reporter if he’s worried that his actions have tarnished his moral authority to tell other Californians what to do, Newsom said that he is and that moving forward he needs to model better behavior.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 1:33 PM.