The suspect in the attempted kidnapping of House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the violent attack on her husband revealed to police that he was on a “suicide mission” to target other elected officials.
David DePape, a conspiracy-theorist described by his former girlfriend as a mentally ill drug addict, broke into Nancy and Paul Pelosi’s San Francisco residence last Friday and screamed “Where’s Nancy?” before he began beating Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Pelosi was left unconscious from trauma to the head and woke up in a pool of his own blood, a Tuesday court filing stated.
According to a sworn court affidavit, prosecutors portrayed DePape as a menace on a potentially “politically motivated” mission to capture the speaker and interrogate her about grievances he had with her leadership. He intended to physically harm her if she did not cooperate, San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins affirmed in the Tuesday filing. If she refused to tell him the “truth,” he said he would break her kneecaps, according to the affidavit. The document detailed that DePape told police he viewed Pelosi as the “‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party.”
DePape “forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi’s absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating on the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi,” Jenkins wrote.
On Monday, DePape was charged with one count of assault of an immediate family member of a United States official “with the intent to retaliate against the official on account of the performance of official duties” and one count of attempted kidnapping of a United States official, presumably Nancy Pelosi. Both are federal crimes.
The suspect pleaded not guilty to all state charges in San Francisco court Tuesday during his arraignment. He is currently being held without bail.