Nancy Pelosi's husband attacked in home invasion

Inti Gonzalez, 21, identified herself in a phone call Friday as DePape’s daughter. She said she wrote in a blog post that her mother kicked DePape out when she was 13 because of alleged “toxic” behavior.

Gonzalez wrote that she and DePape remained estranged until a few months ago when she reached out to see how he was doing.

“This attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband came as a shock to me,” she wrote. “I didn’t see this coming.”

She said that she had read his website but did not agree with all of his views.

“It made me happy to see that he had strong opinions about important issues that our world is facing today,” Gonzalez wrote. “He wanted to make a difference.”

A motive in Friday’s attack remains unclear, and DePape had expressed sometimes conflicting political opinions.

San Francisco’s district attorney said they expect to file attempted murder and other charges against a man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer at his home Friday.

"Any time you strike someone in the head, in the fashion that Mr. Pelosi was hit — it is clear to us that he was attempting to kill him,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told NBC Bay Area on Friday evening.

She told the station her office expects to file charges of attempted murder, residential burglary, elder abuse, and assault with a deadly weapon.

The suspect, David DePape, 42, is accused of breaking into the Pelosi home and striking Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at least once with a hammer.

Paul Pelosi, 82, underwent surgery for a skull fracture and is recovering, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi has said.

San Francisco Police Chief BIll Scott said the attack was intentional and not a random act. A motive in the assault has not been released.

DePape was in a hospital Friday but will be booked one way or the other, either in person or in absentia, Scott said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, called the attack on Paul Pelosi "abhorrent" and urged his Congressional colleagues to reject "divisive" conspiracy theories that he said have fueled violence.

“Unfortunately, the attack against Paul Pelosi appears to be a symptom of a much larger problem within our democracy," said Thompson, D-Miss., said. "In recent years, we have seen a rise in domestic terrorism fueled in part by violent, racist, antisemitic, anti-democratic rhetoric."

Thompson cited the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and the Capitol riot as examples of how armed attackers have used violence to impose their views. "So-called vigilantes have been intimidating voters at ballot drop-boxes and harassing local election officials. America is better than this," Thompson added.

“I call on my colleagues in Congress and elected officials across the nation to put country over party and reject the conspiracy theories that are proving so divisive, despite any perceived political advantage," Thompson said.

Thompson, who also chairs the House committee on homeland security, called on federal agencies and law enforcement to reinforce efforts to protect officials and elections as the midterms approach.

The police dispatcher who took the 911 call about Friday’s home invasion and attack on Paul Pelosi may have saved his life, San Francisco’s police chief said.

Chief Bill Scott praised the dispatcher for "her intuition, her quick thinking” in handling the call about Friday's early break-in and assault at the Pelosi home.

"She had to interpret what she was being told. And based on her experience and her intuition, she basically figured out that there was something more to this incident than what she was being told,” Scott said.

“Her actions, in my opinion, resulted in both a higher priority dispatch and a faster police response,” he said. “I think this was life-saving.”

Paul Pelosi, 82, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was struck with a hammer at least once in the home invasion at their San Francisco home, police said.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., at the time. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and is expected to make a full recovery, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman said.

The attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was not random, San Francisco’s police chief said.

“This was intentional. And it’s wrong,” Police Chief Bill Scott said.

The suspect in Friday morning’s attack at the Pelosi home, David DePape, 42, remained at a hospital Friday evening, but Scott would not disclose his medical information.

"Our elected officials are here to do the business of their cities, their counties, their states, and this nation. Their families don’t sign up for this, to be harmed,” Scott said. “And it is wrong. And everybody should be disgusted about what happened this morning.”

Paul Pelosi, 82, was struck in the head at least once with a hammer. He underwent surgery and is recovering, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi said.

President Joe Biden began his remarks at an event for Pennsylvania Democrats on Friday evening by sharply condemning the attack on Paul Pelosi and drawing parallels between the attack on the House speaker's husband and the Capitol riot.

"Before I begin, I want us to take a short pause, to send our love to Nancy and Paul Pelosi," Biden said, adding that he had spoken to the speaker earlier and she reported that her husband was in "good spirits."

Biden went on to address reports that the assailant had repeated the "same chant" heard during the Jan. 6 riot.

"The chant was: 'Where's Nancy?'" Biden said, calling it "despicable."

"There's too much violence, political violence," the president added, suggesting that election denialism and claims that Covid-19 was a "hoax," had eroded the political climate.

"Every person of good conscience needs to clearly and unambiguously stand up against the violence in our politics, regardless of what your politics are," he added.

David DePape, 42, appeared to operate a website on which he wrote a wide variety of posts touching on almost all manner of modern conspiracy thinking: aliens, Jewish people, communism, vaccines, voter fraud and many other topics.

Many of the posts were published in the last few months.

The website, which was registered under “david depape” and to a ZIP code in the Bay Area, according to registration records, did not mention Nancy Pelosi.

Multiple senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation into Friday's attack on Paul Pelosi said it is too soon to say what the motive may have been.

Two law enforcement officials said an early look at DePape’s online footprint showed recent blog posts that espoused ideas typically associated with far-right extremism along with some liberal anti-establishment ideas.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Philadelphia that she spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday morning.

"This was an act of extreme violence," Harris said following a get-out-the-vote event. "I pray for Paul’s recovery. I know the Pelosis, and this is tragic."

Harris also highlighted the importance of speaking out against hate.

"We have to speak out against violence obviously, and speak to our better selves," she said.

While she acknowledged the value of public discourse about disagreements on policy, she called recent events "beneath the dignity and the intelligence of the American people."

After being attacked Friday, "Mr. Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands," Drew Hammill, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a new statement. "His doctors expect a full recovery."

Hammill added that the speaker "and her family are thankful for the outpouring of support and prayers from friends, constituents and people around the country."