Pelosi says retirement decision ‘will be affected’ by attack on husband

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a new interview said the attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, will affect the decision she makes of whether to retire from Congress should Democrats lose control of the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

“I have to say my decision will be affected about what happened the last week or two,” Pelosi told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in her first sit-down interview since the attack on her husband.

Pressed further on if her decision will be impacted by the attack, Pelosi told Cooper “yes.”

Pelosi’s full interview with CNN is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. on “AC360.”

Pelosi’s comments come less than two weeks after her husband, 82, was injured during a break-in at the couple’s San Francisco home. Authorities allege that David DePape, 42, broke into the residence through a glass door in the early hours of Oct. 28, threatened to hold the Speaker hostage and hit Paul Pelosi over the head with a hammer. The Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., at the time.

They also come just before the midterm elections, when Republicans are favored to take control of the House — an outcome that would put an end to Pelosi’s tenure as Speaker and raise questions as to whether the longtime leader of the House Democratic Caucus will retire.

In 2018, Pelosi, 82, promised that she would give up the Speaker’s gavel at the end of this term, but some Democrats think that she may retain her position if the party pulls out an upset and holds control of the lower chamber.

Such a result would be a big surprise, however, with Republicans widely favored to win the House.

The Speaker herself has been mum about her future plans.

Paul Pelosi was transported to a hospital following the October incident, where he underwent successful surgery to treat a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.

He was released from the hospital on Thursday, but “remains under doctors’ care as he continues to progress on a long recovery process and convalescence,” according to a statement from the Speaker.

On Friday, in her first on-camera remarks since the attack, the Nancy Pelosi said her husband “will be well,” noting “it’s going to be a long haul.”

In another clip of Pelosi’s interview with CNN, the Speaker described the moment she learned about the attack.

“I was sleeping in Washington, D.C., I had just gotten in the night before from San Francisco, and I hear the doorbell ring and think, it’s five something, I look up I see it’s five, it must be the wrong apartment. No. It rings again and then bang, bang, bang, bang, bang on the door,” she told Cooper.

“So I run to the door and I was very scared, I see the Capitol Police, and they said we have to come in to talk to you,” she added.

Pelosi said her children and grandchildren immediately came to mind, telling Cooper, “I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn’t be out and about, shall we say.”

“And so they came in,” she said, referring to the police. “At that time we didn’t even know where he was or what his condition was, we just knew there was an assault on him in our home.”

DePape faces a number of state and federal charges, including attempted murder and attempted kidnapping. He entered a not guilty plea for the state charges and faces between 13 years and life in prison for those felonies.

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