Republicans have condemned the incident, which was carried out by David DePape, who has been charged with attempted murder for his assault on Paul Pelosi.
Liberals and conservatives are both upset about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that happened in their San Francisco home on Friday. The 42-year-old man who did it has been charged with attempted murder.
Paul Pelosi, 82, was “violently assaulted” by David DePape, a resident of Berkeley, who broke into the couple’s house in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights early on Friday. According to San Francisco Police Chief William Scott, DePape snatched a hammer from Pelosi and “violently attacked” him. DePape was heard shouting, “Where is Nancy?” from inside the house.
The defendant is accused of attempted murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, elder abuse, and burglary, among other offenses. DePape allegedly managed a WordPress site called God Is Loving and promoted far-right conspiracies online.
When police responded to a 911 call placed by Paul Pelosi from the restroom, they discovered DePape and Paul Pelosi arguing over a hammer. The suspect then “violently attacked” Pelosi after taking the hammer away from him, according to Scott.
DePape was apprehended after being promptly grabbed by officers and disarmed.
According to Pelosi’s spokesperson, Drew Hammill, Paul Pelosi sustained major injuries to his right arm, hands, and cranium. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time of the assault.
“Mr. Pelosi was transported to the hospital, where he is getting top-notch medical attention and is anticipated to recover completely.”
The Speaker and her family want to thank the emergency workers and medical staff who helped them. At this time, they want to be left alone.
The office of the U.S. House Speaker said in a statement on Friday that Pelosi had successful surgery to fix the broken skull.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, DePape relocated to the Bay Area after 20 years of estrangement from his family in British Columbia. DePape became a nudist and started making hemp jewelry. He was previously a member of the Green Party’s left-wing branch, which advocates for ecology and other progressive issues.
Once, he seemed to support liberal causes, but his politics seem to have changed in recent years. A social media account thought to belong to DePape posted conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19 vaccines before media outlets looked into it and shut it down.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which quotes law enforcement officers with knowledge of the case, DePape’s social media posts were mostly right-wing.
According to CNN, DePape shared links to multiple videos created by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell on his Facebook page, alleging that the 2020 election was rigged, a claim that was previously made by former President Donald Trump. DePape also shared articles on Facebook in which he called the House of Representatives’ inquiry into the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, a “farce.” “Global Elites Plan to Take Control of YOUR Money,” said another post’s warning.
Authorities discovered DePape’s manifesto and a list of further lawmakers he intended to attack, sources told KTVU.
On Friday, Brooke Jenkins, the district attorney for San Francisco, tweeted that her office would “bring forth several felony charges on Monday” and “anticipate DePape to be arraigned on Tuesday.”
The incident was described as “terrible” by the White House, which added that President Biden was “pray[ing] for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family.”
Several well-known Republicans, including some who have been attacked before, have spoken out against the attack.
One of six people shot at a congressional baseball practice in 2017 by a left-wing political activist was House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who expressed his revulsion after learning about the “horrific attack.”
“I am thankful for the response by law enforcement. Unambiguously, violence has no place in our nation. He tweeted, “I’m hoping for Paul Pelosi’s full recovery.”
No one deserves to be abused, according to Kentucky’s Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul.
I condemn this attack and wish Mr. Pelosi a swift recovery, in contrast to Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, who praised my assault, he tweeted.
Paul made the remark in reference to an assault by his neighbor in 2017 that left him with fractured ribs and damaged lungs, for which he was made fun of on Twitter by several liberal commenters. According to a screenshot published in 2020, Christine Pelosi tweeted that “Rand Paul’s neighbor was correct,” but the message has since been removed.
The minority leader of the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, said he was “horrified and appalled” by the attack.
He expressed gratitude in a tweet, writing, “Grateful to hear that Paul is on pace to make a complete recovery and that law enforcement, including our excellent Capitol Police, is on the case.”
In a tweet, former vice president Mike Pence called the behavior “outrageous.”
“[O]ur hearts go out to the Pelosi family as a whole. We really hope Paul fully recovers, “Pence wrote. Violence against public officials or their families cannot be tolerated. The law should be pursued against this individual to the utmost degree possible.
David DePape’s stepfather, Gene DePape, said that David DePape was raised in Powell River, British Columbia, and moved to California around 20 years ago to pursue a love connection.
Gene DePape told The Associated Press that despite being very introverted and playing an excessive number of video games, David was never aggressive and was never in trouble.
According to a 2013 article in The San Francisco Chronicle, DePape lived with a nudist campaigner and was also shown in images wearing clothing at a nudist wedding on the steps of San Francisco City Hall.
Linda Schneider, a Californian, told CNN that she first encountered DePape more than eight years ago, when he was using heavy drugs and lived in a storage unit in Berkeley. At the time, DePape was also struggling with addiction. He wrote her “very unsettling” letters in which he looked to be a “megalomaniac and so out of touch with reality,” according to her description of him as being quite bashful.
She said that he was “doing evil with Biblical reason.”
According to reports, the suspect also had a blog at godisloving.wordpress.com, but it was shut down after the assault on the Pelosi residence. The site included writings on government, media, technology, and extraterrestrial conspiracies, among other themes, according to The Chronicle, and had a header that said, “We welcome (sic) to Big Brothers Censorship Hell.”
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