Suspect in Pelosi attack was on ‘suicide mission’: Court filings
San Francisco, US - The man accused of attacking the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer told police he also planned to target several other politicians as part of a ‘suicide mission’, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
David Depape, 42, was arrested last week after he allegedly broke into the couple’s mansion intending to tie up Pelosi and break her kneecaps, but found only her 82-year-old husband.
He was ordered to be held in custody after he pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges during his arraignment on Tuesday at a San Francisco court.
In new court filings, state prosecutors said Depape told police he was sick of ‘lies coming out of Washington’ and had ‘named several targets, including a local professor, several prominent state and federal politicians’ as well as their relatives.
“I didn’t really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission,” Depape allegedly told officers at the scene of his arrest, referring to Paul Pelosi.
“I’m not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life.”
According to the state prosecutors’ filing, Depape startled Paul Pelosi awake from his bed in the early hours of Friday, holding a hammer and several plastic zip ties. He told Paul Pelosi he had come to find Nancy Pelosi because she is ‘number two in line for the presidency’, and ‘we’ve got to take them all out’.
Pelosi was able to call the police and open the mansion’s front door when officers arrived, before Depape struck him in the head with the hammer, leaving him bloodied and unconscious for three minutes, court documents said. “This case demands detention. Nothing less,” prosecutors wrote.
Depape wore orange jail clothes and spoke only to answer procedural questions during the brief appearance, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
His arm was in a sling, which his lawyer said was a result of an injury he sustained during arrest.
Litmus test
The story of the attack quickly metastasized into a political litmus test in the highly divided United States.
Liberals blasted the dangerous coarsening of public discourse and the willing perpetuation of falsehoods by mainstream Republicans that has seen Nancy Pelosi cast as a figure of hate on the right, and a legitimate target for real-life violence. Swathes of the conservative media ecosystem, meanwhile, set about questioning the narrative around the attack with lurid and unproven allegations.
New Twitter boss Elon Musk was among those who helped spread the misinformation after tweeting a link to a speculative opinion piece by an outlet with a history of unreliability.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Depape’s court-appointed lawyer Adam Lipson said the defense team would be looking into the swirling untruths that may have influenced his client.