Attacker wanted to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps
DAvid DePape, who assaulted and seriously injured husband Nancy Pelosis in San Francisco on Friday morning, wanted to hold the Speaker of the House hostage and possibly smash her kneecaps. That’s according to a lawsuit filed by the Northern California Federal District Court on Monday evening. The 42-year-old man, who was charged by the California judiciary on Friday with, among other things, attempted murder, must now also answer for the attempted kidnapping of a public official and the attack on a relative of a public official, according to local federal prosecutors.
DePape, equipped with a backpack containing a hammer, cable ties and a rope, broke into the Pelosis’ house in Pacific Heights, a posh San Francisco district, on Friday night. As he smashed the window of the back entrance with a second hammer, he woke up 82-year-old Paul Pelosi. Wife Nancy was in Washington DC on Friday night – originally she wanted to stay in the capital because of the election campaign.
“Where’s Nancy?”
The attacker didn’t know that. The intruder said he planned to confront Pelosi, who he considered “the leader of a pack of liars” within the Democratic Party. He repeatedly called out, “Where’s Nancy?” When the husband replied that she wasn’t there, the intruder said he would wait for her. Pelosi then pointed out that she was away for several days. Then DePape got the zip ties to tie up Pelosi. He first wanted to reach the elevator because there is a telephone in it. He later managed to escape to the bathroom, where he used his cellphone to call 911 at 2:23 a.m. He did not end the call but attempted to pass coded information to the police about his conversation with the intruder.
When the police arrived at the scene, Pelosi and DePape were engaged in a fight, both of them wrestling for the gavel. The police asked what was going on. DePape initially replied that everything was fine. He then grabbed the hammer and hit Pelosi on the head with it. He fell unconscious to the ground. The police officers then overpowered the perpetrator. Pelosi suffered, among other things, a fractured skull and is still in the hospital. Nancy Pelosi arrived in San Francisco on Friday.
Originally from British Columbia, Canada, DePape must have – judging by the trail he’s left on social media – gradually radicalized over the years from a weird man who championed “radical nudism.” , on a person who spoke out against “elite” internet control and shared conspiracy theory posts about storming the Capitol. He is also believed to be the author of a blog with anti-Semitic content.
After three days of silence, former President Donald Trump condemned the act. The Republican spoke of a “terrible thing” in an interview. All these acts of violence (against politicians) are terrible, he said. Then Trump generally complained about the increased crime in San Francisco and Chicago, i.e. in cities ruled by Democrats. Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, had already condemned the act before Trump.
DePape said in his statement that he planned to confront Nancy Pelosi. If she had “lied,” he would have smashed her kneecaps. She would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would have been a lesson for the other members, DePape said. When asked why he didn’t flee when he overheard Paul Pelosi secretly calling the police, he compared himself to the founding fathers of the republic and said he was fighting “tyranny.” Giving up is not an option.
The police in San Francisco rejected the fact that it was a relationship act, as criminalists say, meaning that the perpetrator and the victim knew each other. There are no indications for this. The authorities were referring to a conspiracy theory that was spreading on social media, according to which Pelosi had a conflict with a male sex worker. Several Republicans, including members of Congress and Don Jr. Trump, the former President’s son, had posted posts with perfidious allusions on social media. Elon Musk, the new owner of “Twitter”, had also briefly spread a corresponding conspiracy theory report, but later deleted it.
