WASHINGTON (AP) — The San Francisco District Attorney is rejecting conspiracy theories about the attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, confirming that the attacker targeted the Democratic leader when he broke into the couple’s San Francisco home and Paul Pelosi confronted.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is expected to formally announce the charges Monday against David DePape, 42, who yelled, “Where’s Nancy?” before police said he beat the speaker’s 82-year-old husband with a hammer. DePape was arrested on charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and other charges.
“The moment the suspect entered Pelosi’s house, he was in fact looking for Ms. Pelosi,” Jenkins told reporters late Sunday in San Francisco.
“The other thing is that we want to make it clear that there were only two people in the house when the police arrived, Mr. Pelosi and the suspect, there was no third person present,” she said.
“We have nothing to indicate that these two men knew each other before this incident.”
The prosecutor’s comments come as the horrific attack on the House speaker’s husband is mocked and rebuffed in conservative, far-right social media, even among some Republican leaders and those with the highest social power. The San Francisco police chief has also said the attack was targeted.
Elon Musk tweeted and then deleted widespread conspiracy theories from a fringe website this weekend to his millions of followers, as his purchase of Twitter has raised concerns that the social media platform would no longer want to curb disinformation and hate speech.
In the toxic political climate a week before the midterm elections, tensions are high with record security threats against lawmakers and other officials.
Paul Pelosi is still in hospital in San Francisco after surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries. Speaker Pelosi, who was in Washington DC at the time, quickly returned to California. Unlike presidents, congressional leaders have security protections for themselves, but not for their families.
The attack was a disturbing echo of the January 6, 2021 Capitol uprising, when rioters trying to undo Joe Biden’s election defeat to Donald Trump stormed the halls, shouting eerily, “Where’s Nancy?” DePape also wore zip ties to Pelosi’s home, two people briefed on the matter told The Associated Press. The people were unable to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Police were dispatched to the home in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood around 2:20 a.m. Friday after Paul Pelosi called 911. Jenkins said DePape broke into the back door and went upstairs to confront Paul Pelosi. Police said they arrived to watch the two men struggle over a hammer, when DePape hit Pelosi at least once before being tackled by officers.
The incident sparked new security concerns for lawmakers and other elected officials before the midterms.
With nearly 10,000 threats against members of Congress in the past year, the US Capitol Police has advised lawmakers to take precautions. Chief Tom Manger, who heads the US Capitol Police, has said the threat from lone wolf attackers has increased and the main threat facing the police is the historically high number of threats against lawmakers, thousands more than just a few years earlier. . .
Beating the speaker’s husband follows other attacks and threats. This summer, a man with a gun, knife and zip ties was arrested near Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home after threatening to kill the judge. In 2017, Republican Representative Steve Scalise was seriously injured when a Bernie Sanders supporter opened fire on Republicans during a congressional baseball game.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was among those who lit up the attack on Paul Pelosi, tweeting a joke about a Halloween costume of the incident.
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Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
