The man accused of attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband, Paul, with a hammer took the stand in his own defense on Tuesday.
David DePape got emotional at times when asked about his political views and how he went down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole that led him to believe outlandish things about multiple people, including the longtime California legislator.
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DePape, who is facing a life sentence, testified he would listen to political podcasts and YouTube videos for hours and became consumed by them. He said he let what he heard on mostly right-wing sites influence his thinking, even as the claims made became more fantastical.
“At that time, I was biased against [former President Donald] Trump, but there’s, like, truth there,” he said, sobbing. “So if there’s truth out there that I don’t know, I want to know it.”
DePape admitted his embrace of alternative theories started developing several years ago.
“When Bush was in office, I thought 9/11 was an inside job,” he said. “I searched for lies about Trump.”
Prosecutors claim DePape wanted to find Nancy Pelosi on Oct. 28, 2022, the night he broke into the couple’s Pacific Heights home. DePape researched the congresswoman about a week before the attack and looked up members of her family, including her children and grandchildren, they said. DePape thought the former speaker was “evil” and had “planned to kidnap her, to hold her hostage, to break her kneecaps, to teach her a lesson,” they added.
Instead of finding the longtime lawmaker, DePape found her husband at the residence.
DePape allegedly screamed “Where’s Nancy?” repeatedly at Paul Pelosi, who managed to make a 911 telephone call in which he spoke to the dispatcher and left the line open for authorities. The dispatcher, realizing something was wrong, sent the police to the address.
When the authorities arrived, they saw both men with their hands on a 5-pound steel hammer. They were both told to drop the hammer, but DePape wrestled it from Paul Pelosi and hit him on the head multiple times with it. DePape was immediately arrested, and Paul Pelosi was taken to the hospital after suffering extensive wounds.
Paul Pelosi spent six days in the hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands.
He told jurors Monday about the night he “woke up in a pool of his own blood” after being attacked by DePape, who broke into his house carrying zip ties and a hammer and demanded to speak to his wife.
Paul Pelosi told jurors that he hadn’t talked about the attack to anyone beyond investigators.
“I’ve tried to put it out of my mind,” he said. “I made the best effort I possibly can to not relive this.”
When asked about who else was on his “target list,” DePape on Tuesday rattled off several names, including “Tom Hanks, Mike Pence, Bernie, Hunter Biden, Gavin Newsom.”
The federal case against him hinges on whether he went after Paul Pelosi solely because his wife was a federally elected official.
DePape’s lawyer Jodi Linker laid out a narrow legal defense during opening statements last week, telling jurors that her client wasn’t at the Pelosi house due to Nancy Pelosi’s duties in Congress but by what he believes is an obligation to stop a larger and more devious plan to make the country morally bankrupt.
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DePape’s federal trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.
He is still facing several other felony charges in state court that do not rely on Nancy Pelosi being a member of Congress.
