Video released Friday morning shows the seconds leading up to an alleged hammer attack by a Richmond man on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul, providing a chilling new look at the savage, politically-driven assault that shook the nation.
David DePape, of Richmond, is accused of bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer in late October after allegedly breaking into the couple’s San Francisco home seeking to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who was second in the line of presidential succession at the time. A recording of DePape describing the attack during a police interrogation and a recording of a 911 call were also released Friday under orders from a state judge.
Pelosi on Friday told reporters that her husband “is making progress but it will take more time.” Referring to the released material, she said, “I have not heard the 911 call. I have not heard the confession. I have not seen the break-in, and I have absolutely no intention of seeing the deadly assault on my husband’s life.”
Police body-camera video shows officers — responding to a 911 call from Paul Pelosi made from a bathroom after DePape allegedly broke in — arriving at the Pelosi home and knocking on the front door, calling for someone to answer.
The door opens to reveal Paul Pelosi in a collared shirt and underwear, and a man later identified as DePape in blue sweatshirt and shorts, both holding onto a hammer with their right hands. DePape appears to be pulling the hammer away from Pelosi.
“What’s going on?” an officer asks.
“Everything’s good,” DePape replies.
An officer commands, “Drop the hammer,” DePape responds: “Um, nope.”
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED: Video contains graphic content.
DePape then yanks the hammer away from Paul Pelosi, who abruptly lurches backward. DePape swings the hammer back and then launches a savage overhand swing; the impact takes place outside the camera’s view.
In a chaotic scene, the officers rush through the door and wrestle DePape to the ground in an attempt to subdue him. Paul Pelosi lies on the floor unconscious, snoring, with his feet bare, as the officers and DePape struggle just inches away.
Paul Pelosi, 82, underwent surgery to repair multiple skull fractures and was hospitalized for nearly a week after the attack.
Authorities have said they believe DePape broke into the Pelosi household shortly after 2 a.m. on Oct. 28 seeking to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, the then-Speaker of the House and the second person in line for the presidency. He told investigators that he planned to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps and wheel her in front of Congress to deliver a message to lawmakers that their actions carried “consequences” for their actions, prosecutors said at a December preliminary hearing.
But Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, and Paul Pelosi was sleeping in the couple’s bedroom in San Francisco.
In the newly-released recording of DePape’s interrogation five hours after the attack, he tells a San Francisco Police sergeant, “It originates with Hillary,” referring to former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. However, he adds: “Day in and day out, the person that was on the TV lying every day was Pelosi.”
He claimed that Democrats had been on a four-year “crime spree” against former President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. “They go from one crime to another crime to another crime and it’s like the whole (expletive) four years until they were finally able to steal the election,” DePape said. “It’s unacceptable.”
A video from outside the couple’s house in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood shows DePape arriving onto the back patio. He wanders the yard, peering into windows, before disappearing around a corner, then returning, wearing a very large backpack and carrying a smaller bag.
He begins digging into the smaller bag, pulling out a hammer and taking other items from the backpack.
Eventually, he strikes the patio door of the house with the hammer, pushing it through the glass in an attempt to make a hole big enough to reach through. After the door won’t open, he begins swinging the hammer aggressively at the door, using two-handed overhead chops for about 30 seconds, before he steps through the door, into the house, and disappears from view.
The attack shook the nation ahead of the November midterm elections, fueled fears of politically motivated violence and led to the spread of misinformation, including by Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
DePape, court heard in December, said he planned to target President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and actor Tom Hanks in a suicide mission, according to testimony aired by prosecutors in a San Francisco court.
Court records already have detailed how Paul Pelosi called 911 and alerted authorities before abruptly ending the call as his attacker stood nearby, telling dispatchers that “he wants me to get the hell off the phone.”
DePape faces charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment, and other state felonies, as well as federal charges of attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official. A status conference for the case in U.S. District Court in San Francisco is scheduled for Feb. 8. His next hearing in the state case is set for Feb. 23.
