Paul Pelosi (L) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attend the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 28, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images
Police body camera footage from last year’s vicious hammer attack on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their San Francisco home was made public Friday.
The video, first obtained by NBC News affiliate KNTV, shows police approaching Pelosi’s home, and then the door being opened with Pelosi standing next to the suspect in the case, David DePape. Both men are holding onto a hammer.
The video, first obtained by NBC News affiliate KNTV, shows police approaching Pelosi’s home, and then the door being opened with Pelosi standing next to the suspect in the case, David DePape. Both men are holding a hammer.
Asked what’s going on, DePape says, “Everything’s good.”
“Drop the hammer,” one of the officers says. “Nope,” DePape replies, before quickly wresting it from Pelosi and attacking him with it. The officers immediately tackle DePape, and Pelosi is seen lying motionless on the ground. The time between the door being opened and the hammer attack is about 14 seconds.
The evidence was released after a coalition of news organizations, including NBC News, made a motion to the judge presiding over the case against Paul Pelosi’s alleged attacker David DePape arguing it should be made public.
Prosecutors from the San Francisco district attorney’s office had refused to release the evidence to the media, telling the judge they had concerns that the video footage publicly could be manipulated in a bid to spread false information.
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy sided with the group of 13 news organizations, who contended the court records should be made public and that their release would help combat disinformation in the case. The judge noted Wednesday when he issued his decision that the evidence — which also includes Pelosi’s 911 call — was played in open court at a preliminary hearing last month.
In the state case, DePape, 42, is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening a public official for the Oct. 28 attack on the 82-year-old Pelosi.
He also faces two federal charges stemming from the assault – attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to retaliate against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member.
DePape has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
In court filings, state prosecutors said he told officers at the scene his true target was Nancy Pelosi, who was not in the home at the time.
“I’m sick of the insane f—— level of lies coming out of Washington, D.C. I came here to have a little chat with his wife,” DePape said, according to the filing.
“I didn’t really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I’m not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life,” he allegedly said.
The federal complaint said DePape told police he was “going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her.”
“If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps,'” the complaint alleged.
Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his arms and hands during the assault.
Nancy Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol Thursday that she was unsure if she would watch the video. “I mean, it would be a very hard thing to see an assault on my husband’s life,” she said.
— Zoë Richards contributed.
