• David DePape allegedly broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home with the intent of tying her up and breaking her kneecaps.
• He struck Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in the head with a hammer, rendering him unconscious.
• The San Francisco District Attorney has charged him with attempted murder and kidnapping.

The man accused of assaulting the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was charged with attempted murder and attempted kidnapping of a public figure on Monday, with the lead prosecutor describing the crime as “politically motivated.”

The US Justice Department said in a court statement that David DePape of California was detained early Friday morning after he allegedly broke into Pelosi’s San Francisco home with the intent of tying her up and breaking her kneecaps with a hammer if she did not confess to Democratic “lying”.

According to the Justice Department, DePape carried tape, rope, zip ties, and other items with him, but he discovered only Pelosi’s husband Paul, whom he struck with a hammer.

Monday, federal investigators charged DePape, 42, with attempting to kidnap a US official and beating a family member because of her conduct at work.

Several hours later, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced a number of fresh state charges, including “attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder as well as threats to a public official and their family.”

According to Jenkins, DePape would face 13 years to life in prison if convicted of the state charges.

She stated that the state and federal prosecutions will proceed “concurrently” and that her office will demand DePape’s detention without bail at his arraignment on Tuesday.

The FBI stated in a court affidavit that DePape told them following his detention that he held Nancy Pelosi accountable for the lies perpetrated by her Democratic Party.

According to the affidavit, he wanted to hold Pelosi, who is second in line to the US presidency behind the vice president, captive and speak with her.

The affidavit stated, “If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps.”

At the time, Nancy Pelosi was not in San Francisco.

Paul Pelosi, awoken by the break-in, contacted 911 and conversed with DePape in an effort to keep the situation calm until the police came.

According to the affidavit, when police arrived, the two wrestled over a hammer, and DePape struck Paul Pelosi in the head with it, rendering him unconscious.

Pelosi, 82, was transported to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a fractured skull and severe damage to his right arm and hands.

Given his wife’s absence, DePape later told police that Paul Pelosi was “suffering the punishment instead” of his wife.

It is anticipated that he will recover from the attack.

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Increased tensions

The assault and attempted kidnapping occurred amid heightened political tensions ahead of the midterm elections on November 8, with Democrats likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi.

District Attorney Jenkins stated, based on DePape’s claims and comments made in the Pelosi residence, that “this was politically motivated.”

In a pre-election intelligence report, US security authorities expressed worry on Friday, before the details of the Pelosi incident were known, that disinformation could incite violent extremist actions.

DePape, who resided in a garage in nearby Richmond, California, was not a recognized radical, but in recent months he had made and reposted unsubstantiated assertions that elections had been rigged, climate science and Covid vaccines were phony, the Holocaust was a hoax, and other conspiracy theories.

Inti Gonzalez, whose mother was DePape’s girlfriend for a number of years, stated that he had mental health concerns and had recently resorted to right-wing conspiracy theorizing.

In addition to the state accusation of attempted murder, the federal kidnapping charge has a possible sentence of 20 years, and the assault charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

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