California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had not been seen in public for over a week after canceling his trip to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on Oct. 29, popped up over the weekend for the star-studded wedding of oil heiress Ivy Love Getty, which was officiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Democrat governor said a family obligation was behind his decision to skip the trip to Scotland, KABC in San Francisco reported. However, speculation started growing after Newsom, who makes frequent media appearances, dropped out of view after getting his highly publicized COVID-19 booster shot Oct. 27.
Getty, a model and actress, is the great-granddaughter of oil magnate J. Paul Getty. She married photographer Tobias Alexander Engel at a lavish ceremony at the historic San Francisco City Hall, Vogue reported.
The magazine has exclusive rights to all photographs from the wedding, and guests were asked to leave phones at the door, but one of the photos published by Vogue shows a blurry image of Newsom, wearing a mask and standing in the background.
Getty is a long-time family friend of the governor's, according to reports, and Vogue confirmed in its article he attended her wedding, where guests were asked to mask up before Pelosi entered the room and took her position at the microphone to officiate the ceremonies.
After the wedding, the guests were taken in limousines to the Getty Mansion to celebrate the reception. Erin Mellon, the governor's spokeswoman, said he was at the wedding but did not go to the reception, and the event was not the family obligation that kept him from going to Scotland, The New York Times reported.
Newsom's office, meanwhile, has denied there was anything amiss by the governor's low profile, and press secretary Daniel Lopez told SFGATE that the governor had been working at the state Capitol last week and would be returning to his usual appearances this week.
Newsom is planning a public appearance Tuesday, with reports coming outlet Monday that he will be in a "fireside chat at the 2021 California Economic Summit sponsored by California Forward."
Lopez also insisted the cancellation for the Glasgow trip was not because of a reaction to the booster shot.
"Last week, Gov. Newsom worked in the Capitol with staff on urgent issues including COVID-19 vaccines for kids, boosters, ports, the forthcoming state budget, and California's continued economic recovery," he said. "He will have public events this week related to the economy and vaccines."
The governor's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, also tweeted over the weekend there was nothing nefarious about her husband's absence. Her message was subsequently deleted, The New York Times reported.
"It's funny how certain folks can't handle truth," she said. "When someone cancels something, maybe they're just in the office working; maybe in their free time they're at home with their family, at their kids' sports matches, or dining out with their wife. Please stop hating and get a life."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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