Disturbing new details have emerged from the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, including that the alleged assailant told police he was on a “suicide mission” and had a list of other prominent targets.
“It was not a random act of violence. This was not a random residential burglary. This is something that was specifically targeted,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Tuesday.
Here’s what we currently know about the attack.
The alleged suspect, David DePap, 42, told officers and medics on the scene that he was fed up with the “level of lies” coming from Washington, DC and “came here to talk to [Pelosi’s] wife,” according to Tuesday’s court filing.
“I didn’t really mean to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I will not stand here and do nothing even if it costs me my life,” DePape was quoted as saying.
DePape named several targets, according to the filing, including prominent state and federal politicians and their relatives.
Jenkins confirmed to CNN earlier Tuesday that authorities believe DePape had other “targets” besides the House speaker.
Asked by CNN’s Erin Burnett about the suspect’s alleged plans, Jenkins said “there were other public officials who were obviously his targets, and apparently he showed up at the speaker’s house first.” The case, Jenkins said, is still “very fresh” and she declined to give specific details about who the potential target was.
DePape was “cooperative” with police and “underwent a lengthy interview” before being represented by an attorney, according to the prosecutor.
Capitol Police first learned of the break-in at the San Francisco home about 10 minutes after the incident, when an officer noticed police lights and sirens on a live camera feed at the Capitol Police command center in Washington, D.C. , according to a source briefed. in the attack.
CNN previously reported that there may be video of the break-in that Capitol Police and law enforcement could review since there are security cameras at the home, according to two law enforcement sources.
The San Francisco Police Department stopped routinely posting a patrol car outside Pelosi’s home last year, according to two additional sources.
DePape pleaded not guilty Tuesday to all state charges during his initial court appearance.
He also waived his right to a hearing within 10 days during his appeal in a San Francisco courtroom. Judge Diane Northway set a hearing for Nov. 4 in San Francisco Superior Court to set a date for a preliminary hearing and bond setting.
DePape has been charged with a number of crimes, including assault, attempted murder and attempted kidnapping, following last week’s burglary.
The attempted kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He has yet to file an appeal in federal court.
DePape’s attorney, Adam Lipson, said outside the courtroom, “There’s been a lot of speculation, a lot of rumors, just based on the nature of this case. So I’m not going to add to all the speculation by talking about the facts of this case right now.”
“What I will say is that there has been a lot of speculation about Mr. DePape’s vulnerability to disinformation and that is certainly something that we will look into, that we will look into, as his defense team, but again it would be premature. to talk about it right now,” Lipson said.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Munger said Tuesday that the agency is “engaged in a review” of the incident and said the current political climate requires more resources for the physical security of members of Congress.
“We believe that the current political climate requires more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress,” Manger said in a written statement.
“This plan would include an emphasis on adding layoffs to the measures already in place for congressional leadership. We hope you can understand that we cannot reveal details about these improvements because our country cannot afford to facilitate potential bad actors,” he added.
Manger also said Capitol Police “worked diligently to investigate reported threats, improve intelligence collection and analysis, and strengthen our partnerships with law enforcement agencies across the country to keep members safe when they travel outside of Washington, DC.”
California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Tuesday that lawmakers will not be safer “until we address what is the root cause of this political violence.”
“RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and also Kevin McCarthy, the Minority Leader, expressed their sorrow for Paul Pelosi. But then he went on to say “it’s really the product of a crime – that’s the Democrats’ fault.”
“It’s like saying Lee Harvey Oswald was connected to crime in Dallas or John Wilkes Booth was the result of a crime problem at Ford’s Theater. Not only is it ridiculous, it’s part of the problem of dismissing what’s causing this violence,” Lofgren said.
Just one day after releasing a tepid but factual statement about the incident, former President Donald Trump fanned the flames of a baseless conspiracy about the attack.
“It’s strange things that have been happening in this house over the last two weeks,” Trump said. “You know, you and I are probably better off not talking about it. The glass, it seems, broke from the inside out, and, you know, well, it wasn’t a break-in, it was an explosion,” the former President told conservative radio host Chris Steagall.
Trump went on to say that he is “not a fan of Nancy Pelosi” but that what happened was “very sad.” He added: “The whole thing is crazy. I mean, if there’s any truth to what’s being said, it’s crazy. But the window was broken and it was strange that the police were standing there almost from the moment it all happened.”
In the days following the attack, several prominent right-wing figures have floated conspiracy theories about the attack — including that Paul Pelosi and the attacker were gay lovers who had fallen out.
The bogus theory traces back to an erroneous early news report and a handful of evidence that its proponents have blown out of context. It is completely at odds with the explanation that police and federal law enforcement have outlined.
“There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in an interview with CNN. “In fact, the evidence shows just the opposite.”
Also on Tuesday, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake — whose embrace of Trump’s policies has been a central part of her campaign — claimed she was not attributing the attack earlier in the week, despite clearly joking about a lack of security at Pelosi’s house.
Instead, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngin, a Republican who came under fire last week after referring to the attack as part of a political attack on Nancy Pelosi, expressed regret for his remark.
“At the end of the day, I really wanted to express the fact that what happened to President Pelosi’s husband was horrible. And I didn’t do a good job,” he told Punchbowl News.
