The Criminal Complaint against Alleged Pelosi Assailant Debunks Misinformation and Conspiracies

On Monday, a federal criminal complaint was filed against David DePape, the man who allegedly broke into the home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and struck Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in the head with a hammer. The complaint paints a picture of a deranged man, who confessed to the crimes in a Mirandized and recorded interview with San Francisco police officers: 

“DEPAPE stated that he broke into the house through a glass door, which was a difficult task that required the use of a hammer,” according to the complaint. “DEPAPE stated that Pelosi was in bed and appeared surprised by DEPAPE.” The confession debunks the conspiracy theories that Pelosi and DePape somehow knew each other.

As for DePape’s motive, the complaint states: 

DEPAPE stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If Nancy were to tell DEPAPE the “truth,” he would let her go, and if she “lied,” he was going to break “her kneecaps.” DEPAPE was certain that Nancy would not have told the “truth.” In the course of the interview, DEPAPE articulated he viewed Nancy as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party. 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. DEPAPE also explained generally that he wanted to use Nancy to lure another individual to DEPAPE.

In the complaint, DePape confesses to engaging in bizarre behavior during the break-in. For example, he waited until the police had arrived and were watching to hit Pelosi in the head with a hammer. 

The central fact that explains the assailant’s behavior is that he’s absolutely nuts. The Washington Post reported that DePape wrote on a blog last week that “an invisible fairy attacked an acquaintance and sometimes appeared to him in the form of a bird.”

“He is mentally ill. He has been mentally ill for a long time,” DePape’s former partner told ABC. ​”He thought he was Jesus. . . . He was constantly paranoid, thinking people were after him. And it took a good year or two to get back to, you know, being halfway normal.”​

“In earlier years, DePape also posted long screeds about religion, including claims that ‘Jesus is the anti christ’,” CNN reported.

So, a crazy person who promoted conspiracies about Democrats broke into the Pelosi home and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. It’s a scary and tragic story, and no one should have spread conspiracy theories about it. But it’s worth noting how the media helped fuel conspiracy theories by botching initial reporting. 

Compare these two reports from Politico on Saturday and Monday: 

The false report that a third unknown person opened the door to the Pelosi house — something clearly implied in Politico’s Saturday report and explicitly reported on Meet the Press on Sunday — did a lot to fuel conspiracies.

As I noted on Saturday, San Francisco police never said a third person was present — the police chief merely said that “someone” opened the door and that Pelosi and DePape were then seen in the entryway: 

This is not to excuse those who floated baseless conspiracies or, worse, joked about a violent attack on an 82-year-old man, but the media outlets ought to hold themselves accountable for their own role in spreading false reports.