More Details Emerge in Paul Pelosi Attack: 'We've Got to Take Them All Out'
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New details have emerged in last week's violent attack of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Among them, that Paul's alleged attacker remarked "we've got to take them all out," seemingly in reference to Nancy and other top Democrats.
USA Today, drawing on court records and news conferences, body-camera footage and a 911 call, reports that David DePape, the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Paul, smashed a glass window in the home to get inside before entering the Pelosis' bedroom. DePape pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
When Paul woke up, he found DePape standing over him — with a hammer in one hand, and zip-ties in the other.
That's when, as CNN earlier reported, DePape allegedly "confronted the speaker's husband" and shouted, "Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?" per CNN sources.
USA Today adds in its new reporting that DePape allegedly then asked Paul: "Well, she's No. 2 in line for the presidency, right? We've got to take them all out."
After Paul told him Nancy was not in town, DePape then allegedly threatened to tie up Paul "about 10 times," the outlet reports.
Per USA Today, Pelosi asked DePape if he could call anyone for him, to which DePape "ominously responded that it was the end of the road for Mr. Pelosi."
Authorities who responded to a 911 call from the home that day have said they arrived around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 28 to find Paul and DePape struggling over a hammer. According to police reports, DePape gained control of the tool and assaulted Paul with it in front of the officers before being tackled and taken into custody.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty
Paul, 82, suffered a fractured skull and other serious injuries and has a "long recovery ahead," according to the House speaker. He successfully underwent surgery to repair his skull on the day of the attack.
Earlier this week, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins formally charged the suspect with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment, and threatening the life or serious bodily harm to a public official. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
"DePape will be held accountable for his violent and depraved attack, and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law," Jenkins tweeted after the charges were announced. "When citizens of our city suffer as victims of crime, we will hold perpetrators accountable for their actions and work to deliver justice for all."
He was also charged with two federal felonies Monday: assaulting an immediate family member of a federal official and attempting to kidnap a federal official. If convicted in both cases, he faces decades in prison.
In a criminal complaint released by the Department of Justice on Monday, a special agent with the FBI laid out justification for the federal charges against DePape.
The suspect's online behavior show a man who embraced right-wing conspiracies and anti-Semitic tropes. And according to charging documents, the suspect himself said — in a Mirandized and recorded interview after being detained — that he planned to tie Paul up and wait for Nancy, and would then question the House speaker before breaking "her kneecaps" if she lied to him.
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"In the course of the interview, DePape articulated he viewed Nancy as the 'leader of the pack' of lies told by the Democratic Party," the complaint reads. "DePape also later explained that by breaking Nancy's kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions."
The complaint also claims he wanted to use Nancy to lure another unnamed person.
