Kevin McCarthy Attended Son's Wedding Amid CA Coronavirus Surge

CALIFORNIA — Rep. Kevin McCarthy is facing criticism after admitting that he attended his son's wedding in early December. The wedding was held in a dire moment for California as coronavirus cases surged and a regional stay-at-home order shuttered business sectors statewide.

The ceremony was held on Dec. 5, the same day McCarthy took aim at Gov. Gavin Newsom in a video on Facebook for attending a dinner party at French Laundry.

The U.S. House Republican leader later posted a video of the wedding to his Instagram, which was held in Cayucos, a small coastal town in San Luis Obispo County.

"Turned commenting off on this one...It’s a politics-free post!" McCarthy wrote in the caption of the Instagram post.

The celebration was held at the Cass House, situated in downtown Cayucos, where the small beach town's handful of restaurants remained closed for dine-in operation.

Around a dozen guests at the outdoor ceremony were seen hugging and standing in close proximity in the video. No one appeared to be wearing a mask.

Outdoor wedding ceremonies were allowed within the county but receptions were not allowed under the county's emergency orders.

McCarthy sent a statement to the Los Angeles Times late Wednesday, offering that the original guest list for the wedding — 300 people — was paired down to just close family.

"We took every precaution to ensure a safe celebration — starting with just 13 family members," the statement said, according to the Times. "We spent the majority of the time outside with the dinner following the ceremony in an almost completely open area. We wore masks indoors that day, except in those instances where some had to let makeup dry or when we were eating."

The sweeping stay-at-home order came down as a massive wave of coronavirus cases ripped through the southern reaches of the state, filling hospital beds and intensive care units. San Luis Obispo County was roped into the Southern California region as ICU capacity plummeted throughout the region at an alarming rate.

But it's no secret that the congressman from Bakersfield opposed Newsom's stay home orders for their effect on businesses and the state's economy.

McCarthy continued in his statement to the Times, maintaining that he spent months “calling to end the dangerous and arbitrary lockdown orders from Sacramento” and said Democrats "promulgating or advocating for lockdown policies have often ignored these very mandates they are imposing on everyone else," the Times reported.

Last year, McCarthy leveled insults at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a tweet after she was seen maskless inside a San Francisco salon.

"Americans have shuttered businesses, complied with local orders, and sacrificed everything to defeat the virus," McCarthy said. "But Nancy Pelosi doesn't think the rules apply to her. She thinks she deserves special treatment."

Newsom apologized last year for his appearance at a well-heeled dinner party at French Laundry — a move that has since been labeled highly hypocritical — but the incident has helped fuel an intensifying recall effort.

Leaders for the effort say they have garnered enough signatures, 1.5 million, to land the recall on the ballot if all of the signators can be verified, according to multiple reports.