On Monday, Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, took the stand in the trial of David DePape, the man who fractured his skull with a hammer in the couple’s San Francisco home last year.
During the proceedings, Pelosi recalled the Oct. 28, 2022, attack, which resulted in him being bludgeoned in the middle of the night.
“The door opened and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other and he said, ‘Where’s Nancy‘ as I think that woke me up,” he said. “I’m asleep and he bursts in the door and that woke me up.”
“It was a tremendous shock to recognize that somebody had broken into the house and looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” he said.
Pelosi, 83, said he neglected to set the home’s security alarm before going to bed and was left with serious injuries to his right arm and hands along with a fractured skull.
According to federal prosecutors, DePape smashed his shoulder going through a glass panel on a door in the back of the Pelosis’ mansion in Pacific Heights, confronted a sleeping Paul Pelosi, who was wearing boxer shorts and a pajama top.
“Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” DePape asked, standing over Paul Pelosi around 2 a.m., holding a hammer and zip ties, according to court records. Then-Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time, under protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members.
“It was a tremendous shock,” Pelosi said when he saw his attacker holding a hammer.
Pelosi was able to call 911 and two police officers arrived, witnessing DePape striking him over the head with a hammer and knocking him unconscious. Jurors were shown police body camera footage of the attack.
Pelosi, meanwhile, said he hasn’t discussed the attack with anyone and has made every effort possible “to not relive this.”
“It’s a year later and I’m trying to put it out of my mind,” he said.
DePape has pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties.
Thus far in the trial, federal prosecutors brought forward an FBI agent who collected the electronics DePape was carrying, a U.S. Capitol police officer who watches the surveillance cameras at the Pelosis’ home and another who has protected Nancy Pelosi since 2006, and a Bay Area Rapid Transit police sergeant.
DePape’s defense lawyers have alleged that he was caught in conspiracy theories, leading him to believe the country was being run by corrupt leaders, while prosecutors said he had been planning to attack the Pelosi home for months. If convicted, DePape could face life in prison.
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