Video Footage Reveals New Details of Paul Pelosi Attack During SF Hearing - The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — It each happened successful a substance of seconds, from the infinitesimal the constabulary arrived astatine the location of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and encountered an intruder with a ample hammer to erstwhile her husband, Paul Pelosi, was lying unconscious connected the floor.

“Mr. Pelosi was look down connected the ground, a excavation of humor by his head,” said Kyle Cagney, 1 of the 2 San Francisco constabulary officers archetypal to get successful the aboriginal hours of Oct. 28, during a tribunal proceeding connected Wednesday.

The fishy successful the case, David DePape, dressed successful orangish jailhouse clothes, his hairsbreadth agelong and scraggly, sat softly adjacent to his lawyer during the hearing, successful which prosecutors presented overmuch of their grounds against him successful beforehand of a authorities justice to find if the lawsuit would determination forward.

Mr. DePape said successful a constabulary interrogation hours aft the onslaught that helium had different targets, including Gavin Newsom, the Democratic politician of California; the histrion Tom Hanks; Hunter Biden, the lad of President Biden; and the feminist writer and anthropologist Gayle Rubin, according to grounds connected Wednesday.

Prosecutors connected Wednesday played an audio signaling of the interrogation that Mr. DePape gave to the constabulary successful which helium admitted to busting into the Pelosi location successful the upscale Pacific Heights vicinity done a backmost door, connected a ngo to seizure the House speaker, interrogate her and interruption her kneecaps if she “lied” to him.

Ms. Pelosi, though, was successful Washington. Instead, the authorities accidental Mr. DePape, equipped with a hammer and carrying zip ties, recovered Mr. Pelosi dormant successful his bed.

The attack, coming 11 days earlier the midterm elections, rattled the nation’s governmental people and heightened fears of politically motivated unit successful a polarized country. The assailant’s repeated cries of, “Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” arsenic helium confronted Mr. Pelosi echoed the chants of immoderate of the rioters during the Jan. 6 onslaught connected the U.S. Capitol.

Ms. Pelosi herself had agelong been the taxable of attacks by right-wing officials who often utilized dehumanizing connection to picture her, and immoderate Republicans mocked the beating of her hubby soon aft it happened.

The intent of Wednesday’s preliminary proceeding was for a justice to measurement the grounds against Mr. DePape and find whether it was capable to determination guardant to a proceedings — and, if so, connected what charges. During the greeting portion of the proceeding, prosecutors provided the fullest relationship to day of what they accidental happened during the attack.

Among the grounds was body-camera footage of the attack, showing that erstwhile the constabulary arrived, Mr. Pelosi and Mr. DePape were standing, each with a manus connected a hammer. They appeared calm, until an serviceman told them to driblet the tool. That is erstwhile Mr. DePape took power of the hammer and lunged astatine Mr. Pelosi, striking him once, according to the video.

“Really hard,” Mr. Cagney said erstwhile asked by a authoritative to picture the unit of the hammer attack. During his testimony, Mr. Cagney showed the tribunal the hammer, measuring much than a ft long, that helium said was utilized to bludgeon Mr. Pelosi.

The proceeding began with prosecutors playing a signaling of a telephone that Mr. Pelosi made to 911 soon aft the intruder woke him up. During the call, Mr. Pelosi speaks calmly but emphatically, seemingly trying to convey to the relation that helium is successful information but without alarming the intruder threatening his life.

Mr. Pelosi said connected the telephone that determination was “a man present waiting for my woman to travel back.” He told the relation who his woman was, and astatine 1 constituent the intruder successful the inheritance could beryllium heard saying, “The sanction is David.”

Mr. DePape faces aggregate felony charges successful authorities court, including attempted execution and battle with a deadly weapon. The Justice Department has besides accused him of the national crimes of attempted kidnapping of a national serviceman and battle connected a household subordinate of a national official. If convicted, Mr. DePape could walk the remainder of his beingness successful prison.

Ms. Pelosi volition nary longer beryllium talker adjacent period since Democrats mislaid power of the House during the midterm elections, albeit by a slimmer borderline than had been expected. She besides volition measurement down arsenic the person of House Democrats, giving mode to Representative Hakeem Jefferies of New York, who volition instrumentality her place.

Mr. Pelosi spent six days successful a San Francisco hospital, wherever helium underwent country for a skull fracture and attraction for injuries to his hands and close arm. Ms. Pelosi said aft the onslaught that helium was facing “a agelong betterment process.” Earlier this month, Mr. Pelosi made his archetypal quality successful public since the incidental by attending the Kennedy Center Honors with his woman successful Washington.

According to a national indictment returned by a expansive assemblage successful aboriginal November, Mr. DePape told investigators that helium viewed Ms. Pelosi arsenic the “leader of the pack” of lies told by Democratic officials, and that helium sought to interruption Ms. Pelosi’s kneecaps and instrumentality her into Congress arsenic an illustration to different politicians. He besides said that helium had a database of different politicians helium planned to target.

Two of the targets named successful tribunal connected Wednesday, Mr. Newsom and Hunter Biden, person been often criticized by conservatives, conscionable arsenic Ms. Pelosi has been.

As the lawsuit moves forward, Mr. DePape’s copious online writings, wherever helium seemed to embrace the QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories and made bigoted and sexist remarks, are apt to travel nether scrutiny arsenic investigators question to hint however helium became radicalized.

Mr. DePape, a Canadian national who had been living successful the United States illegally, has mostly been estranged from household members, who successful interviews described him arsenic quiescent and apolitical, and arsenic idiosyncratic who was obsessed with video games arsenic a boy.

In caller years, though, the galore hours helium spent online playing video games appeared to beryllium his gateway to the virulent right-wing conspiracy theories that person proliferated connected the internet. According to his ain writings, it was the online harassment run known arsenic Gamergate that introduced him to the darker corners of the internet. Gamergate began successful 2014 arsenic a backlash against feminist critiques of the gaming manufacture but metastasized into decease threats and misogynistic attacks.

“How did I get into each this,” Mr. DePape wrote successful 1 transition connected his blog. “Gamer Gate it was gamer gate.”

By the clip helium moved to the San Francisco Bay Area successful his 20s, Mr. DePape was successful a narration with Oxane Taub, a locally celebrated activistic who made headlines for protesting successful the nude and is present successful situation for attempting to abduct a 14-year-old lad successful 2018. The mates had 2 children, and Mr. DePape appeared to unrecorded the beingness of a Bay Area extremist — experimenting with psychedelics, protesting against the Iraq War and selling hemp bracelets for other money. He erstwhile registered arsenic a subordinate of the Green Party successful San Francisco aft attesting to being eligible to vote.

In 2015, aft breaking up with Ms. Taub and becoming estranged from his ain children, Mr. DePape lived for a clip successful a parkland successful Berkeley, Calif. He yet recovered carpentry work, and aboriginal a extortion implicit his caput astatine a store flat successful Richmond, Calif. After the attack, investigators searched the spot and recovered 2 hammers, a sword and a brace of rubber gloves.

Notably absent arsenic a witnesser connected Wednesday was Mr. Pelosi himself. If the lawsuit goes to trial, Mr. Pelosi would astir surely beryllium called to the basal by the prosecution.