Police body camera images The vicious hammer attack last year on the husband of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at their San Francisco home became public on Friday.
The video, first obtained by NBC News affiliate KNTV, shows police approaching Pelosi’s home and then opening the door with Pelosi standing next to the suspect in the case, David DePape. Both men hold a hammer.
When asked what’s going on, DePape says, «Everything’s fine.»
“Drop the hammer,” says one of the officers. “No,” DePape replies, before quickly snatching it from Pelosi and attacking him with it. The officers immediately tackle DePape, and Pelosi is seen motionless on the ground. The time between the opening of the door and the attack of the hammer is about 14 seconds.
Prosecutors also released Capitol Police security video of the exterior of the home. It shows DePape with several bags, including a large backpack, in a front yard at Pelosi’s house. He seems to take the hammer out of the bag. Video then shows him using the hammer to break into the house, repeatedly swinging the tool in an effort to break through a glass door on the back porch.
DePape told police that it «wasn’t easy» to break the door and was concerned that Pelosis would hear the noise. He said he arrived at the couple’s bedroom to find only Paul Pelosi there, fast asleep. «All that noise he didn’t hear,» DePape said, according to an excerpt from his interview with police released Friday.
He said he woke Pelosi up and demanded to know where his wife was. «It’s like, ‘She’s not here,'» she recounted.
Pelosi was finally able to get into the bathroom, where her phone was, and called 911, DePape said.
Prosecutors released the audio of the call on Friday. Pelosi tries to sound realistic as she subtly pleads for help, and then sounds more terrified as the 911 operator initially doesn’t seem to understand that he was in danger.
«I guess I called by mistake,» he said at the start of the call. “There is a gentleman here waiting for my wife to return, Nancy Pelosi. He’s just waiting for her to come back. But she won’t be here for days, so I guess I’ll just have to wait,” she said.
It soon became clear that DePape was listening to Pelosi. Pelosi asks, «What do you think?» DePape replies, «I think everything’s fine.»
Pelosi then says, «He thinks everything is fine. I have a problem, but he thinks everything is fine.»
“This gentleman has just entered the house and wants to wait for my wife to return. He just walked into the house,” Pelosi said. Asked if he knew the person, Pelosi said, «No. I don’t know who he is. He’s telling me not to do anything.»
When asked the person’s name, Pelosi said she didn’t know. DePape can be heard saying, «I’m David…I’m a friend of theirs.»
«He says he’s a friend, but I don’t know him,» Pelosi tells the operator, before adding, «You want me to hang up, okay?» The call then ends.
The evidence was released after a coalition of news organizations, including NBC News, filed a motion with the judge presiding over the criminal case against DePape arguing that it should be made public.
Prosecutors from the San Francisco district attorney’s office refused to release the evidence to the media, telling the judge they were concerned the video footage could be publicly manipulated in an attempt to spread false information.
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy sided with the group of 13 news organizations, which argued that court records should be made public and that their release would help combat misinformation in the case. . The judge noted Wednesday when he issued his decision that the evidence was played out in open court at a preliminary hearing last month.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a friend of Nancy Pelosi, said she did not see the video and did not believe its post dispelled conspiracy theories.
“I think it’s unfortunate that the judge felt the need to publish it, but it’s his decision,” Lofgren said.
“We’ve already had Republicans make fun of the attack, make jokes about it. I think it just feeds those who want to benefit in some way from what was really a tragic attack,” he said.
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 in the Oct. 28 attack on Pelosi, of 82 years.
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 documents, state prosecutors said he told officers on the scene that his real target was Nancy Pelosi, who was not at the home at the time.
“I am sick of the insane level of lies coming out of Washington, DC. I came here to have a little chat with his wife,” DePape said, according to the file.
“I really didn’t want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I am not going to stay here doing nothing even if it costs me my life,” she allegedly said.
The federal complaint says DePape told police he would «take Nancy hostage and talk to her.»
“If Nancy told DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he would break ‘her kneecaps,’” the complaint alleges.
In the interview excerpt released Friday, DePape said he was outraged by the investigations into former President Donald Trump and the theft of the 2020 election and said he was fighting «tyranny.»
He said he arrived at the couple’s bedroom to find only Paul Pelosi there, and fast asleep.
Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his arms and hands during the assault.
Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday that she wasn’t sure she saw the video. “I mean, it would be very difficult to see an assault on my husband’s life,” she said.
