The person accused within the assault of Paul Pelosi, the husband of the previous Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made a disturbing shock telephone name to a California tv station on Friday and stated that he had no regret about his actions final October. He recommended that he regretted not inflicting extra hurt.
The person, David DePape, who has been charged within the assault towards Mr. Pelosi, referred to as a reporter for KTVU from his San Francisco County Jail cell on Friday and stated that he was solely “sorry I didn’t get extra of them.” The station is a Fox affiliate within the Bay Space.
His remarks to the reporter, Amber Lee, who stated on-air that the statements sounded scripted, got here on the identical day {that a} San Francisco courtroom launched police physique digital camera footage exhibiting the frenzied second of the assault. The decision to Ms. Lee was surprising, the station reported, however Ms. Lee had beforehand reached out to him following his arrest final 12 months.
The physique digital camera footage reveals that when officers approached the couple’s San Francisco house within the early hours of Oct. 28, they discovered the assailant and Mr. Pelosi standing calmly, every with a hand on a big hammer.
After officers demanded that the hammer be dropped, Mr. DePape wrested management of it, raised it above his head and slammed it into Mr. Pelosi’s cranium.
It was a rare depiction of a brutal act of political violence, which stemmed from an try to abduct Ms. Pelosi, who on the time was second in line to the presidency. Mr. Pelosi spent six days in a San Francisco hospital and underwent surgical procedure for a cranium fracture.
Mr. DePape’s meandering remarks to KTVU additional reveal how he was influenced to hold out the assault by right-wing conspiracy theories, comparable to lies in regards to the 2020 election being stolen. On the time of the assault, he had been estranged from household, and he was beforehand homeless for a time frame.
Initially of the decision, which lasted about 5 minutes, Mr. DePape advised Ms. Lee he needed to make a press release, the station reported.
“Our reporter was not allowed to problem his statements or to ask follow-up questions,” KTVU reported. “DePape stated he didn’t wish to jeopardize his case.”
It was not instantly clear whether or not the bar towards follow-up questions was a precondition of listening to from him. Ms. Lee and a consultant for the station couldn’t instantly be reached on Saturday. A public defender representing Mr. DePape couldn’t instantly be reached on Saturday.
Mr. DePape advised the station that he “ought to have come higher ready” on the day of the assault. He added that the folks “killing” freedom “have names and addresses,” and he sought to “have a heart-to-heart chat about their dangerous conduct.”
In an interview with the police instantly after the assault, Mr. DePape stated he had been in search of Ms. Pelosi, a political determine who for many years has been demonized and dehumanized by Republicans, and that he deliberate to kidnap her, break her kneecaps and see her “wheeled into Congress.”
Ms. Pelosi was not house the evening of the assault.
Mr. DePape advised the police: “I’m not attempting to, like, get away with it. I do know precisely what I did.”
He faces quite a few felony fees in state courtroom, together with tried homicide and assault with a lethal weapon. He additionally faces federal fees of tried kidnapping of a federal officer and assault on a member of the family of a federal official. If convicted, he faces the potential of life in jail.
