Early Friday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco mansion. The speaker was in Washington, D.C., when at the intruder entered through the back door of the home in Pacific Heights, and yelled, “Where is Nancy?” according to news reports.
Paul Pelosi, age 82, called 911, hid in the bathroom, fought off the intruder, and after police arrived after 2:27 am on Friday, they found the man and Pelosi wrestling for control of the hammer. The man then attacked Pelosi in front of officers before they could intervene, according to William Scott, San Francisco chief of police.
“Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid,” Scott said.
“This was not a random act,” Scott said. “This was intentional.”
Latest reports indicate that the man was a friend of Paul Pelosi.
According to the call that was made to police dispatch: “RP (reporting person) stated there’s a male in the home and that he’s going to wait for his wife. RP stated that he doesn’t know who the male is but he advised that his name is David and that he is a friend.”
Pelosi underwent surgery after suffering from a skull fracture and other injuries to his arms.
The alleged assailant, 42-year-old David DePape, will be charged with attempted homicide, elder abuse, burglary, and other charges. DePape was in the hospital with injuries from the incident.
DePape moved from Powell River, British Columbia, Canada to Berkeley, Calif. 20 years ago and has been a nudist activist who made and sold hemp bracelets and had on-and-off drug problems, in addition to being taken in by political conspiracy theories from the far right. He was also a member of the Green Party in past years. Many who know him say he has become increasingly unhinged.
The daughter of DePape reported on a blog that her father is “consumed by darkness” and sexually abused her and her brothers while they were children.
Paul Pelosi has had a tough year. In August, Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges related to a May injury crash in Napa Valley, and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation, along with a community service requirement. Pelosi served two days in jail and received good-behavior credit for another two days, and his eight-hour community service requirement was accepted in lieu of the remaining day.
Paul Pelosi founded a venture capital firm through which he and his wife have about $114 million. Some Americans consider the Pelosis to be an example of how corrupt Washington, D.C. has become, as Paul Pelosi makes investments in advance of legislation. Nancy Pelosi has become a hated icon due to her perceived corruption.
She is considered so corrupt, in fact, that a group of investors now follow what Paul Pelosi invests in and they make the same investments, reported NPR.
“Among a certain community of individual investors on TikTok, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s stock trading disclosures are a treasure trove. ‘Shouts out to Nancy Pelosi, the stock market’s biggest whale,’ said user ‘ceowatchlist.’ Another said, ‘I’ve come to the conclusion that Nancy Pelosi is a psychic,’ while adding that she is the ‘queen of investing.'” NPR continued.
“‘She knew,’ declared Chris Josephs, analyzing a particular trade in Pelosi’s financial disclosures. ‘And you would have known if you had followed her portfolio.'”
“Last year, Josephs noticed that the trades, actually made by Pelosi’s investor husband and merely disclosed by the speaker, were performing well.
“Josephs is the co-founder of a company called Iris, which shows other people’s stock trades. In the past year and a half, he has been taking advantage of a law called the Stock Act, which requires lawmakers to disclose stock trades and those of their spouses within 45 days.
“Now on Josephs’ social investing platform, you can get a push notification every time Pelosi’s stock trading disclosures are released. He is personally investing when he sees which stocks are picked: ‘I’m at the point where if you can’t beat them, join them,’ Josephs told NPR, adding that if he sees trades on her disclosures, ‘I typically do buy… the next one she does, I’m going to buy.'”
A Pelosi spokesperson told NPR that the speaker does not personally own any stocks and that the transactions are made by her husband. “The Speaker has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” the spokesperson told NPR.
