The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi was hoping to find House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at their San Francisco home Friday and intended to kidnap her and break her kneecaps, prosecutors said Monday in filing federal charges against him.
On Monday, the Department of Justice filed federal assault and kidnapping charges against David DePape, and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged DePape with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, among other crimes.
Court papers offer the most detailed narrative to date of what authorities say happened.
In a voluntary interview with San Francisco police after his arrest, DePape said he set out to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and interrogate and torture her, according to the federal charges.
“If Nancy were to tell DePape the truth, he would let her go, and if she lied, he was going to break her kneecaps,” police said the suspect told them. DePape believed “that Nancy would not have told the truth,” according to a federal affidavit.
In the course of the interview, DePape said he considered Pelosi the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party. He later told investigators “that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of Congress there were consequences to actions.”
DePape also said in the interview he wanted to use Pelosi to lure another individual to the San Francisco home.
Authorities recovered zip ties in Paul Pelosi’s bedroom, plus rope, a hammer and rubber-and-cloth gloves, along with a journal inside a backpack believed to belong to DePape.
The federal complaint debunks conspiracy theories that have spread on the internet, fueling rhetoric in right-wing circles and casting doubt on some of the facts of the attack. The conspiracy theories have gone from fringe to the mainstream, with members of Congress sharing them.
DePape, 42, is accused of breaking into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home early Friday and attacking Paul Pelosi with another hammer. The federal complaint charges DePape with one count of assault of an immediate family member of a U.S. official, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. DePape also was charged with one count of attempted kidnapping of a federal official, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. It’s very sad to see that we are once again at the point in history where people believe that it’s OK to express their political sentiments through violence. It demonstrates that we have to calm things down. We have to decide that we’re going to be more respectful as an American society.
DePape also was charged by San Francisco prosecutors with attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder and threats to a public official and their family. He faces 13 years to life in prison if convicted of all local charges against him.
Police have not offered a motive for the attack. But Jenkins said Monday that based on DePape’s statements and comments to Pelosi, it “was politically motivated.”
“It’s very sad to see that we are once again at the point in history where people believe that it’s OK to express their political sentiments through violence,” she said. “It demonstrates that we have to calm things down. We have to decide that we’re going to be more respectful as an American society.”
Federal prosecutors said DePape entered the Pelosis’ home in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood after smashing a rear glass door with a hammer and then went to the second floor of the house. There, he found Paul Pelosi, 82, sleeping and repeatedly shouted, “Where’s Nancy?” Paul Pelosi was alone at the time of the break-in; his wife was in Washington, D.C.
Realizing the potential danger, Pelosi managed to make a quick, surreptitious phone call to 911 and left the line open, authorities said. A 911 dispatcher realized something was seriously wrong and immediately sent police to the address. Officers were told there was a man inside the home named David, whom Pelosi did not know.
