Pelosi attacker faces 50 years in prison

Canadian-born David DePape was in the US illegally, Fox News reported, citing immigration sources

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the actual target of David DePape, the man who broke her husband Paul’s skull with a hammer, authorities revealed on Monday in the charging documents. DePape faces up to 50 years in prison for assaulting an official’s family member and attempted kidnapping of a federal official. 

He also appears to be in the US illegally, Fox News reported, citing sources in immigration enforcement.

DePape, 42, was arrested last week after police found him wrestling with Paul Pelosi at the couple’s San Francisco home. He reportedly struck Pelosi’s head with a hammer, sending the 82-year-old to the hospital for surgery. According to the criminal complaint made public on Monday, DePape told the police he was really after Nancy Pelosi – who was in Washington, DC at the time.

“DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her,” the FBI said in an affidavit. “If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth’, he would let her go, and if she ‘lied’, he was going to break ‘her kneecaps’.” After Paul Pelosi told him his wife would not be home for several days, “DePape reiterated that he would wait.”

Read more

Nancy Pelosi's husband hospitalized after attack

It was San Francisco police who arrested DePape after finding him struggling with Pelosi over a hammer. After the officers arrived, police say DePape wrested the hammer away and swung it into the older man’s head. Among the evidence recovered at the site were zip ties, rope, tape, gloves and broken glass at the rear of the house, according to the FBI.

DePape reportedly admitted breaking into the Pelosis’ home by using the hammer to shatter a glass door and later using it to strike Paul Pelosi.

As the ambulance was taking Pelosi away to surgery, he told the police that DePape had showed up in his bedroom at 2:30am demanding to talk to “Nancy” and that he had never seen him before, again according to the court papers.

DePape was born in Canada and came to the US 20 years ago, but had overstayed his visa and was in the country illegally, a source in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News.

He now faces up to 20 years in prison for “attempted kidnapping of a US official on account of the performance of official duties” and up to 30 years for “assault of an immediate family member of a US official with the intent to retaliate against the official on account of the performance of official duties,” the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said on Monday.

Learn More