Paul Pelosi attends a portrait unveiling ceremony for his wife, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 14, 2022. Footage of the attack on former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband could be released as early as Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. A California judge ruled on Wednesday there was no reason to keep the footage secret despite prosecutors' objections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
By Stefanie Dazio and Brian Melley
Video released publicly Friday shows the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fighting for control of a hammer with his assailant during a brutal attack in the couple's San Francisco home last year.
The body-camera footage shows suspect David DePape wrest the tool from 82-year-old Paul Pelosi and lunge toward him the hammer over his head. The blow to Pelosi occurs out of view and the officers — one of them cursing — rush into the house and jump on DePape.
Pelosi, apparently unconscious, can be seen lying face down on the floor in his pajama top and underwear. Officials later said he woke up in a pool of his own blood.
The release comes after a coalition of news agencies, including The Associated Press, sought access to the evidence that prosecutors played in open court last month. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office had refused to make the exhibits available to journalists.
The evidence includes portions of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call on Oct. 28, as well as video images from Capitol police surveillance cameras, a body camera worn by one of the two police officers who arrived at the house and video from suspect DePape’s interview with police.
The Capitol Police video shows DePape walk up to a glass-panel door, leave and then return wearing a large backpack and carrying two other bags. He set all the items down and pulled out a hammer, pausing to put on gloves, and used it to smash the door glass so he could step through an opening.
DePape has pleaded not guilty in ongoing state and federal cases. He is being held in jail without bail.
Members of Congress have faced a sharp rise in threats in the two years since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Paul Pelosi was asleep at the couple’s home when DePape allegedly broke in. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members.
Her husband of nearly 60 years later underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. He has since appeared in public wearing a hat and a glove that covered his wounds.
Nancy Pelosi on Thursday told reporters her husband’s well-being was paramount and she did not know if she would view the video once it was released.
“I don’t even know if I will see that,” she said. “I mean, it would be a very hard thing to see an assault on my husband’s life, but I don’t know.”
Police have said DePape told them there was “evil in Washington” and he wanted to harm Nancy Pelosi because she was second in line to the presidency at the time.
DePape told police he was on a “suicide mission,” court documents say, and authorities have said he was drawn to conspiracy theories.
Misinformation about the attack has been rampant.
The San Francisco police officer's body-camera video begins with officers approaching the brick home and rapping on the door. It takes about 20 seconds for the door to open and during that time, the officers discuss whether they have the right house.
When the door opens, Paul Pelosi says, “Hi, guys, how are you?”
Both men are facing the officers at the door and a flashlight shows DePape holding the handle of a hammer with his right hand and clutching Pelosi’s right hand, which is gripping around the hammer head, with his left hand.
“What’s going on, man?” the officer asks.
“Everything’s good,” DePape replies.
“Drop the hammer,” the officer says.
DePape says no and begins to pull it from Pelosi’s grip. Pelosi says, “Hey, hey.”
DePape wins control of the hammer and attacks Pelosi. The attack happens off-camera but Pelosi can be seen lying on the ground. The officers call for backup as they struggle to get DePape’s hand.
There’s a snoring sound in the background and the officer calls for a medic.
___
Associated Press Writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to the report.
Elon Musk asked Twitter if he should sell about $20 billion worth of his Tesla stock and about 58 percent of those who answered said yes. The Tesla CEO pledged to abide by the results of the poll, whichever way it went. Arun Sundararajan, NYU Stern professor & author of "The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism," joined Cheddar to discuss what the Twitter poll says about America's attitude towards billionaires and the nation's tax system.
Dr. Nasia Safdar, Doctor at UW Madison, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the implications of Merck sharing its antiviral pill, which has been shown in early trials to cut hospitalizations and deaths by half, with poorer nations around the globe.
The Federal Reserve finally announced its taper plan on Wednesday saying that it planned to scale back on bond purchases as growth slows, and would not rush to raise interest rates. Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategy Analyst at Baird spoke on whether or not a decrease in inflation could be in the country’s future amidst comments made by Fed chairman Jerome Powell. Baird also broke down ADP jobs numbers ahead of the Labor Department's October jobs report.
Going into election day on Tuesday, many of us had an inkling it might not be a great day for Democrats. History tells us the president's party tends to lose congressional seats, governorships and state legislature seats in off-year and midterm elections. Tuesday turned out to be a big wake-up call for democrats. Not only did Terry McAuliffe lose in the Virginia governor's race, Gov. Phil Murphy won re-election by an incredibly slim margin. Both races saw continued Democratic losses in rural areas and a shift of suburban voters back to the GOP. Liz Landers, chief political correspondent at Vice News, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Week one of UN climate summit is coming to an end, world leaders made a number of promises to save the planet. President Biden attended the first two days of the meeting.
Alan Neuhauser, vice president of Silverline Communications, joined Cheddar Politics to talk more about the pledges that came out from the summit and their significance.
It's been a busy week for the Supreme Court. It heard arguments on three of the most watched cases in the docket for this term. The court heard arguments in two cases challenging the Texas abortion law on Monday - one filed by abortion providers and the other by the justice department. Instead of weighing in on the constitutionality of the matter itself, justices focused on the unusual structure of the law that enables citizens to enforce the law, not the state government.
On Wednesday, the court heard arguments in the biggest Second Amendment case in more than a decade. The dispute is over a New York gun law that requires people seeking a license to carry a handgun in public to show a "proper cause." The challengers in this case claim the law inhibits their constitutional Second Amendment rights.
Amy Howe, co-founder of SCOTUSBlog, joined Cheddar Politics to break the cases down.
This is the first installment of Cheddar Changemakers, where we spotlight young activists making a difference in the world and speaking up on issues regarding mental health, voting, and climate change.
Republicans are considered, and often act like, the party opposed to action on climate change. They've made a point of fighting even modest regulations on businesses related to stemming the worst effects of climate change. But Republicans aren't a monolith on climate change, and our next guest reminds us that "conservation" and "conservative" have the same word root.
Quill Robinson, VP of government affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, Ted Wheeler joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss his plans to get an increase in the city's police budget for more personnel, changes to public safety response, and more body cameras. The Democratic mayor addressed the growth in violent crimes amid the pandemic, but noted the need for officers who take their roles seriously. We want officers who understand that policing is an important responsibility, it's a high calling," he said. "We also want a police bureau that is accountable and responsible to the public it serves."
