Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was violently assaulted with a hammer by a person who broke into the couple’s San Francisco residence early Friday morning, native police mentioned.
The assailant was trying to find the House speaker, shouting, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” earlier than assaulting 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, a supply briefed on the assault instructed CNBC. Nancy Pelosi was not in San Francisco on the time.
The attacker, recognized as 42-year-old David DePape, is being charged with tried murder, assault with a lethal weapon, elder abuse “and several other additional felonies,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott mentioned at a news convention later Friday.
Both males had been taken to the hospital for remedy, Scott mentioned, including that police are nonetheless investigating DePape’s motive. He was booked Friday afternoon in San Francisco County Jail.
In a press convention Friday night, Scott mentioned, “This was not a random attack. This was intentional. And it’s wrong,” He added, “Our elected officials are here to do the business of their cities, their counties, and their states, and this nation. Their families don’t sign up for this — to be harmed. And it’s wrong.”
Paul Pelosi underwent a profitable surgical procedure to restore “a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill mentioned in a press release later Friday. “His doctors expect a full recovery.”
San Francisco law enforcement officials and F.B.I. brokers collect in entrance of the house of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on October 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker of the home Nancy Pelosi, was violently attacked of their residence by an intruder.Â
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
The U.S. Capitol Police said it’s helping the San Francisco police and the FBI with a joint investigation.
The division famous that Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., with her protecting element when the break-in occurred.
Scott mentioned that police had been dispatched to the Pelosi residence at 2:27 a.m. PT. When they arrived on the scene, the officers noticed the suspect and Paul Pelosi each holding a hammer. DePape pulled the hammer away from Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it earlier than being tackled to the bottom by police, Scott mentioned.
Police took no questions on the news convention.
San Francisco police chief Bill Scott (R) speaks to reporters in regards to the break in and assault on the residence of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on October 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
The White House mentioned that President Joe Biden is “praying for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family.”
The president known as Nancy Pelosi on Friday morning to “express his support after this horrible attack,” the White House mentioned in a press release, including that Biden “continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., known as the assault “a dastardly act.”
“I spoke with Speaker Pelosi earlier this morning and conveyed my deepest concern and heartfelt wishes to her husband and their family, and I wish him a speedy recovery,” Schumer mentioned in a press release.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s Republican chief, mentioned he was “horrified and disgusted by the reports.”
It’s not the primary time the Democratic House speaker, additionally 82, has been focused with threats.
A North Carolina man, Cleveland Meredith, was sentenced final December to 28 months in prison after pleading responsible to threatening to shoot Pelosi. Meredith, 53, had traveled to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, planning to attend rallies on that day, however did not arrive till the night, when the pro-Trump riot on the U.S. Capitol had been tamped down.
Another man, 77-year-old Steven Martis of Arizona, was sentenced in February to 21 months behind bars for threatening to kill Pelosi in messages to her D.C. workplace.
San Francisco law enforcement officials and F.B.I. brokers collect in entrance of the house of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on October 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker of the home Nancy Pelosi, was violently attacked of their residence by an intruder.Â
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
And in April, Florida man Paul Hoeffer, 60, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for cellphone calls during which he threatened to behead Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., one other frequent goal of criticism from the political proper.
The assault on Paul Pelosi comes because the U.S. Capitol Police recorded a drastic rise in menace circumstances — a 144% improve from 2017 to 2021, in accordance with the division.
Other high-profile public figures have additionally lately come underneath menace. In June, California man Nicholas Roske, 26, was arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly touring to the Maryland residence of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and telling police he supposed to kill him.
The Department of Homeland Security said in June that the U.S. is in a “heightened threat environment” that was anticipated to develop “more dynamic” within the coming months.
Paul Pelosi made news in May when he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Napa County, California. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor DUI charge in August.
Both Paul and Nancy Pelosi have additionally come underneath scrutiny for his or her investment activities, after the House speaker mentioned she opposed legislation that might ban members of Congress from proudly owning particular person shares. She later reversed her stance on the inventory buying and selling ban.