Comment Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake appeared on Fox News Monday night with a familiar complaint: The media was trying to silence her, she told host Tucker Carlson, this time for jokes about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, her husband. of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California). “Nancy Pelosi, well, she has protection when she’s in D.C. — obviously her house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” Lake said at a campaign event earlier in the day, drawing laughs from the interviewer and some in the crowd for her reference. in an incident in which a hammer-wielding assailant broke into Pelosis’ San Francisco home last week. Paul Pelosi, 82, continues to recover from a fractured skull and other injuries sustained in the attack. On Monday night, though, Lake lamented that to Carlson she she was the one attacked, because of the criticism she had received for making fun of Pelosi. “We can’t talk about all these things because the media told us they’re forbidden,” Lake said. “You know, you can’t talk about vaccines. You can’t talk about elections. You can’t talk about Paul Pelosi — now you can’t talk about Nancy Pelosi. And you can’t talk about the election and you can’t talk about the coronavirus and I’m talking about all these things because I still think we’re a little bit short of the First Amendment —” “Right,” Carlson called out. “ — but I am dangerous to people like [Wyoming GOP Rep.] Liz Cheney and the people she hangs out with and they want to stop people like me,” Lake added. Most Republican leaders have condemned the attack on Paul Pelosi — though many have also been quick to conflate the allegations with “both sides” of responsibility for the rise in political violence. But Lake’s jibe at her campaign event was just the latest instance of some Republicans turning a brutal attack on the House speaker’s husband of eight years into spikes. The same day news of the attack broke, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngin (R) addressed it at a campaign rally in Stafford, Va., for GOP congressional candidate Yesli Vega. “There is no room for violence anywhere, but we will send [Nancy Pelosi] back to be with him in California,” Youngkin told the crowd. Youngkin, too, was immediately criticized for a “disgusting, vile and dumb” joke and was called upon to apologize, though he did not. Police in San Francisco on October 28 announced that they had arrested David DePape, 42, on suspicion of assaulting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. (Video: The Washington Post) Although both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have strongly condemned the attack on Paul Pelosi, they have remained silent about members of of their party who were joking or downplaying the incident. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) retweeted a thread by far-right activist Matt Walsh challenging the idea that the alleged shooter was a militant right-winger, despite his blog appearing to be deeply involved in election fraud and political conspiracy theories . Cruz quoted the thread dismissing Deppe as a “nudist hippie from Berkeley” with one word: “truth.” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) tweeted and deleted a post Sunday that promoted a conspiracy theory mocking the attack. And on the night of the attack, Rep. Claudia Tenney (RN.Y.) retweeted a photo of several men carrying hammers outside a house with a “United Against Hate” sign and a gay pride flag. “LOL,” added the freshman congresswoman. Republicans spoke on Oct. 30 about attacking Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). (Video: The Washington Post) Pelosi, who has strongly denounced political violence in the past, including the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, has so far not linked politics to the attack on her husband. In a “Dear Colleague” letter to members of Congress late Saturday night, Pelosi confirmed that “a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to be confronted and brutally attacked my husband Paul.” “Our children, grandchildren and I are devastated and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our pop,” she wrote. At a campaign event last week, President Biden called on the crowd to stand up “clearly and clearly” against political violence, while arguing that Pelosi’s alleged attacker was influenced by inflammatory Republican rhetoric. “What makes us believe that a party can talk about stolen elections, that covid is a hoax, [that it’s] it’s all a bunch of lies and doesn’t affect people who may not be so well balanced?’ Biden said then. “What makes us believe that the political climate is not going to change? Enough is enough.” Federal authorities on Monday filed charges of attempted kidnapping and assault against David Wayne Depp, 42, the alleged home invader. According to charging documents, DePape told authorities after his arrest that he planned to “hold Nancy hostage” and break her knees to send a message to other Democrats. The Washington Post confirmed that a blog written under DePape’s name was filled with anti-Semitic writing and unsubstantiated claims, as well as pro-Trump and anti-Democrat posts. It was registered to a home in Richmond, California, where Depp lives, according to neighbors. But that hasn’t stopped DePape’s arrest from becoming the focus of more right-wing misinformation and conspiracy theories promoted by allies of former President Donald Trump and even Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter. Trump himself called the attack “a terrible thing” in an interview on Sunday. Trump’s eldest son has made several social media posts making light of the incident, including retweeting a photo of a hammer over a pair of underwear with the message “My Paul Pelosi Halloween costume is ready.” “The Internet remains undefeated,” added Donald Trump Jr. Devlin Barrett, Eugene Scott, Holly Bailey and Laurie McGinley contributed to this report.
