What we know about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted by a man who broke into the couple’s house in San Francisco early Friday morning and attacked him with a hammer, authorities said.

Three San Francisco police officers who responded to an emergency call burst into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home just before 2:30 a.m. local time Friday to find Paul Pelosi, 82, and an intruder grappling over a hammer, authorities said.

The intruder ripped the hammer out of Pelosi’s grip and “violently assaulted him with it” in front of the officers, Chief William Scott of the San Francisco police said at a news conference.

The officers tackled the assailant and disarmed him, Scott said, before requesting backup and giving medical aid. Both men were taken to a hospital, he said.

A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi, Drew Hammill, said in a statement earlier Friday that Paul Pelosi was expected to make a full recovery.

Authorities identified the attacker as David Depape, 42. Scott said Depape would be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and “several other additional felonies.”

The Capitol Police said special agents from its field office in California “quickly arrived on scene.” Investigators from the agency’s threat assessment section on the East Coast were dispatched to assist the FBI and the San Francisco police.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., with her protective detail at the time of the break-in, the Capitol Police said.

The Pelosis have owned a three-floor red brick town house in San Francisco’s exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood since 1987. In January 2021, after Congress passed a stimulus bill, their home was vandalized with graffiti, and a pig’s head was left on the sidewalk. The vandalism occurred before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The motive for the attack on Paul Pelosi was not clear Friday morning, but the assailant was in search of Nancy Pelosi, according to a person briefed on the attack. Before the assault occurred, the intruder confronted Paul Pelosi in their home shouting, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?”

Since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, members of Congress from both parties have experienced a surge in threats and confrontations, including stalking, armed visits to their homes and assaults.

Pelosi is a real estate and technology investor. He met Nancy Pelosi at Georgetown University in Washington, and they married in 1963.

He was also in the news in August, when he pleaded guilty to a single count of driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with a car accident in Napa County, California, where the Pelosis own a vineyard. He was sentenced to five days in jail, though he did not have to serve that time, and eight hours of community service.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Friday that President Joe Biden had called Nancy Pelosi and that he was praying for Paul Pelosi and the Pelosi family. “The president continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

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