“Since Paul’s horrific attack early Friday, we have been inundated with thousands of messages of concern, prayers and well wishes,” the statement said. “Our family thanks everyone for their kindness.” David DePap, 42, has been charged with a string of crimes, including assault, attempted murder and attempted kidnapping, after breaking into the couple’s San Francisco home last week, the U.S. attorney’s office and his attorney announced Monday. San Francisco. He was charged with one count of “attempted kidnapping of a US official,” according to the US Attorney’s office for the Northern District of California. That charge relates to Nancy Pelosi, who Depp told police he planned to “hold hostage,” according to an FBI affidavit also unsealed Monday. The attempted kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. DePape was also charged with assaulting a family member of a US official with the intent to retaliate against the official. This charge relates to a crime allegedly committed against Paul Pelosi and carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The federal charges against DePape are in addition to the state charges, which San Francisco’s district attorney said later Monday include “attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, as well as making threats against a public official and their family.” Based on the current state charges, DePape faces 13 years to life in prison, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said. He said DePape is expected in court for his arraignment Tuesday. Jenkins said at her press conference that the attack on Pelosi was “politically motivated.” “Yes, it appears that this was, based on his statements and comments made in that house during his meeting with Mr. Pelosi, that this was politically motivated,” Jenkins said. CNN reported earlier Monday that Paul Pelosi was interviewed this weekend at the hospital by investigators and was able to provide details about the attack, according to two law enforcement sources and a source familiar with the matter. Among those conducting the interview were the FBI and local law enforcement investigators.
The most detailed description of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call was revealed in court
The court filing related to the federal charges against DePape reveals the most detailed account of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call while the incident was unfolding. “Pelosi said there was a male in the house and that the male would be waiting for Pelosi’s wife. Pelosi also said she didn’t know who the man was. The male said his name was David,” an FBI agent he said in an affidavit unsealed Monday. Paul Pelosi called 911 at 2:23 am. Pacific time on Friday and police arrived at his home eight minutes later, according to the affidavit that was unsealed Monday. “When the door opened, Pelosi and Depp were both holding a hammer with one hand and Depp was holding Pelosi’s forearm with the other hand,” the affidavit said. “Pelosi greeted the officers. The officers asked them what was going on. Depp replied that everything was fine. The officers then asked Pelosi and Depp to drop the hammer.” At that moment, DePape allegedly pulled out the gavel and swung it, hitting Paul Pelosi in the head. Pelosi “appeared to be unconscious on the ground” after the hit, the affidavit said. Paul Pelosi was later taken to the hospital and underwent “successful surgery to repair a fractured skull and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” according to an earlier news release from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. They said they expect Paul Pelosi to make a full recovery. A source familiar with the matter provided CNN with more information about the attack on Paul Pelosi and the extent of his injuries following the federal criminal complaint. The source said DePape hit Pelosi twice in the head. Pelosi required surgery for a fractured skull and also had serious injuries to his arms and right hand, leading to him cutting off his shirt at the hospital to treat his hand, the source said. Paul Pelosi was sleeping in boxers and a pajama top in the third-floor bedroom of his San Francisco home, the source said, when authorities claimed Depp broke in. CNN previously reported that Pelosi was able to keep the line open with 911, the dispatcher could hear a conversation in the background and that Pelosi was speaking in code to help authorities figure out what was going on. “DePape was prepared to arrest and injure Speaker Pelosi when he entered the Pelosi residence early on the morning of October 28, 2022,” the FBI agent said in the affidavit. “DePape had zip ties, tape, rope and at least one hammer with him that morning.” DePape has yet to appear in court in connection with the attack. According to the criminal complaint filed in court, DePape confessed in an interview with local police that he intended to find the speaker of the House and hold her hostage. The FBI affidavit filed with the complaint said: “DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. He was going to break ‘her knees.’ “DePape was confident that Nancy would not have told the ‘truth,’” the FBI affidavit said. The affidavit further stated that DePape told police that Nancy Pelosi was the “leader of the pack” of lies being promoted by the Democratic Party. DePapp told police that other members of Congress would see consequences for their actions when Pelosi, with broken knees, “wheeled into the House chamber,” according to the affidavit. The interview was conducted by the San Francisco Police Department on Friday, the day of the attack, court records show. DePape was read his Miranda rights before he spoke to police and confessed his intentions to kidnap the top House Democrat, records show.
The FBI affidavit further debunks the conspiracy promoted by Elon Musk
The federal charges unsealed Monday also further debunk a conspiracy theory about the attack on Pelosi that had been shared on Twitter by its billionaire owner Elon Musk. The conspiracy theory claimed, among other things, that Paul Pelosi knew his attacker. Musk tweeted a link to an article promoting the theory on Sunday, though he later deleted it. The FBI affidavit, unsealed Monday along with the federal charges, says Pelosi told a 911 dispatcher during the call that she “doesn’t know who the man is” who broke into his home. Additionally, the affidavit said San Francisco police officers interviewed Pelosi in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and he said, “He had never seen David Depp before.” Earlier Monday, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told CNN’s Ana Cabrera that Paul Pelosi did not know the suspect. The police chief said the wave of conspiracies surrounding the case were “baseless” and “damaging” to the ongoing investigation.
title: “Attacker Paul Pelosi Canadian Was Charged " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-06” author: “Julia Camerano”
The man accused of attacking the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer told police he wanted to hold the Democratic leader hostage and “break her knees” to show other members of Congress there were ” consequences to actions,” authorities said Monday. In a chilling federal complaint, officials say David DePape, 42, carrying zip ties, tape and a rope in a backpack, broke into the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning, climbed upstairs where 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was sleeping and asked to speak to “Nancy”. “This house and the speaker herself were specifically targeted,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said at a news conference Monday afternoon announcing the charges against DePape, including attempted murder. “This was politically motivated,” Jenkins said. He implored the public to “mind the words we speak and tone down our political rhetoric.” Investigators believe DePape researched in advance to target Pelosi, Jenkins told The Associated Press. “This was not something he did on the spur of the moment,” he said. In a statement late Monday, Speaker Pelosi said her family was “very grateful” for “thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and best wishes.” Her husband underwent surgery for a fractured skull and other injuries after the attack. He said he was making “steady progress in a long recovery process.” The hard-hitting narrative laid out by state and federal prosecutors contrasts with mocking jokes and conspiracy theories being floated by far-right figures and even some top Republicans just a week before the midterm elections. Record number of security threats against lawmakers and elected officials. At a campaign event Monday in Arizona, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake drew laughs as she joked about security at Pelosi’s home. In addition to the state charges, DePape was also charged Monday in federal court with influencing, obstructing or retaliating against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member. He also faces one count of attempted kidnapping of a United States official on official duty. No attorney has been listed for DePape. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on the state charges, and prosecutors will ask that he be held in jail without bail. Authorities said DePape smashed a glass door in the back of the house with a hammer, went to an upstairs bedroom and told a stunned Paul Pelosi to wake up. When Paul Pelosi told the intruder his wife wasn’t home, DePape said he would wait — even after being told she wouldn’t be home for a few days. The assailant then began removing ties to bind Pelosi, the complaint says. DePape told investigators he wanted to speak with Speaker Pelosi and viewed her as the “leader of all the lies that the Democratic Party has told,” according to the eight-page complaint. “If she told DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he would break her knees,” the complaint states. “By breaking Nancy’s knees, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of Congress that there were consequences for the actions,” the complaint said De Pape told investigators. The federal complaint says DePape said he wanted to “use Nancy to lure” another person, but does not provide details of such a plan. After DePape confronted Paul Pelosi in his bedroom, Pelosi tried to get to an elevator in the house to get to a phone, but DePape blocked his way, Jenkins said. Wearing a nightgown, Pelosi then told the attacker he needed to use the bathroom, allowing him to reach for his cell phone and call 911, according to authorities. Police were dispatched to the home in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood around 2:20 a.m. Friday. They arrived two minutes later to see the two men fighting over a hammer, and Depp then hit Pelosi at least once before officers tackled him, Jenkins said. He said the police body camera footage “shows the attack itself.” Police later found a second hammer, along with rope, tape and a journal in DePape’s backpack. In the ambulance at the hospital, Paul Pelosi told police he had never seen DePape before, the complaint said. And Jenkins said Sunday, “We have nothing to indicate that these two men knew each other prior to this incident,” a statement that contradicted wildly unsupported suggestions on social media. DePape told investigators he didn’t leave even though he knew Paul Pelosi had called 911 because “like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender,” the affidavit said. Speaker Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time of the attack, quickly returned to California. Unlike presidents, congressional leaders have security protection for themselves, but not their families. DePape is a Canadian citizen who entered the United States legally in 2000 but has overstayed his visa, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The family described DePape as estranged, and he was known by some in San Francisco as a nudist activist who seemed to espouse a number of conspiracy theories. DePape lived for the past two years in a garage at a residence in Richmond, California, the complaint said. The attack was a disturbing echo of the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, when rioters trying to overturn Joe Biden’s election defeat of Donald Trump stormed the halls chanting eerily “Where’s Nancy?” Some brought zippers. Elon Musk over the weekend posted and then deleted a fringe website’s conspiracy theories to its millions of followers, as the Twitter market has raised concerns that the social media platform will no longer seek to curb misinformation and hate speech. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was among those who made light of the attack on Paul Pelosi, posting crude jokes on Twitter. With nearly 10,000 threats against members of Congress in the last year, US Capitol Police advised lawmakers to take precautions. Chief Tom Manger, who leads the force, said the threat from lone wolf attacks has increased and the most significant threat facing the force is the historically high number of threats against law enforcement officers, thousands more than a few years ago. The beating of the speaker’s husband follows other attacks and threats. This summer, a man carrying a gun, knife and zipper was arrested near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Maryland after threatening to kill him. In 2017, Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was seriously injured when a Bernie Sanders supporter opened fire on Republicans at a congressional baseball practice game.
Mascaro reported from Washington and Dazio from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
