Paul Pelosi described the night he was attacked by a man with a hammer at his San Francisco home for the first time publicly on Monday, telling jurors he had not yet spoken about the incident because it was “too traumatic.”
Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was home alone in October 2022 when prosecutors allege David DePape broke in and confronted him in his bedroom. Pelosi testified that he told the intruder his wife was in Washington before the man responded the lawmaker was “the leader of the pack” and that he “had to take her out.”
“The door opened and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other,” Pelosi, 83, described to jurors. “And he said, ‘Where’s Nancy?’
“It was a tremendous sense of shock to recognize that somebody had broken into the house and looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” he said.
Pelosi managed to call 911 before DePape allegedly bludgeoned him with a hammer multiple times. He was treated at the scene but later underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and injures to his arm and hands.
“I’ve made the best effort I possibly can to not revisit this,” Pelosi recalled Monday. “I have not discussed this incident with anybody,” adding it was “so traumatic for my family.”
The attack was captured on police body cameras and DePape later told police he hoped to find Nancy Pelosi and interrogate her, adding that he might “break her kneecaps.” He also said he had a list of other prominent targets, including the billionaire George Soros, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the actor Tom Hanks.
DePape has been charged with assault on an immediate family member of a federal official and attempting kidnapping of a federal official. He has pleaded not guilty, although his attorneys don’t plan to contest much of the evidence and instead argue that federal charges should not apply, The New York Times reported.
He faces life in prison if convicted.
DePape also faces several charges in state court, with a hearing in that trial set to move forward on Nov. 29.