Mr Pelosi, 82, was left with a fractured skull and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.
The suspect is said to have demanded to see Mrs Pelosi after breaking into the San Francisco home.
President Joe Biden saw the attack as political and called it "despicable".
A 42-year-old man has been arrested on charges including attempted homicide. No motive is known.
Mrs Pelosi - who was on the other side of the country in Washington DC at the time of the assault - flew back to see her husband in hospital.
A spokesman for the senior Democrat said Mr Pelosi had been attacked in the early hours of Friday morning "by an assailant who acted with force, and threatened his life while demanding to see the Speaker".
He was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital for an operation and doctors expect a full recovery, said Mrs Pelosi's spokesman, Drew Hammill.
In a news conference, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said officers had responded to a call at around 02:27 local time (09:27 GMT) on Friday.
They found Mr Pelosi and the suspect - named by police as David DePape - struggling over a hammer, but it was wrested from Mr Pelosi by the intruder, who violently assaulted him with it. Mr Pelosi was bludgeoned at least once, said police.
The suspect was tackled and disarmed by officers. He had attempted to tie up Mr Pelosi "until Nancy got home", law enforcement sources told CBS News. He reportedly shouted "where's Nancy?" during the incident.
He is also facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and several other felonies, Chief Scott said.
He said the suspect had gained access through a rear entryway to the four-bedroom Pelosi home in the upmarket neighbourhood of Pacific Heights. Footage shows a smashed glass door at the property.
Chief Scott told a Friday evening news conference that the alleged intruder was currently in hospital, though he declined to share details about his medical condition.
At the start of the break-in, Mr Pelosi told the intruder he needed to use the bathroom then made a secret 911 call on his mobile phone and left the line open, allowing a dispatcher to hear him talking to the suspect, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Chief Scott confirmed it was Mr Pelosi who had called police and that a quick-thinking emergency dispatcher had been "able to read between the lines" and send officers.
"This was not a random act," said the police chief of the attack. "This was intentional."
He added: "Everybody should be disgusted by what happened this morning." “Our elected officials are here to do the business of their cities and their counties and their states. Their families don’t sign up for this,” Scott said. “Everybody should be disgusted about what happened this morning.”
Forty-two-year-old David DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary, and remained in the hospital late Friday, police said. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, and his doctors expect a full recovery, the speaker’s office said.
Biden quickly called Speaker Pelosi with support and later delivered a full-throated condemnation of the “despicable” attack that he said had no place in America.
“There’s too much violence, political violence. Too much hatred. Too much vitriol,” Biden said Friday night at a Democratic rally in Pennsylvania.
“What makes us think it’s not going to corrode the political climate? Enough is enough is enough.”
The nation’s political rhetoric has become increasingly alarming, with ominous threats to lawmakers at an all-time high. The House speaker and other congressional leaders are provided 24-hour security, and increasingly more other members now receive police protection. This, as crime and public safety have emerged as top issues for voters in the election.
In San Francisco on Friday, police were called at about 2.30 a.m. to the Pelosi residence to check on Paul Pelosi, said Scott.
Scott confirmed that the intruder gained entry through the rear door of the home, which is in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood. Investigators believe the intruder broke through glass-paneled doors, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Paul Pelosi called 911 himself after telling the intruder he had to use the restroom, where his phone was charging, according to another person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. The person said the intruder confronted the speaker’s husband shouting, “Where is Nancy?”
Scott said the dispatcher figured out there was “something more” than she was being told, resulting in a priority dispatch and faster police response. “I think this was lifesaving,” he noted.
Inside, police discovered the suspect, DePape, and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer, and told them to drop it, Scott said. DePape yanked the hammer from Pelosi and began beating him with it, striking at least one blow, before being tackled by officers and arrested, Scott said. The FBI and Capitol Police are also part of the joint investigation.
"Enough is enough is enough," he said during a speech in Philadelphia. "Every person of good conscience needs to clearly and unambiguously stand up against the violence in our politics, regardless of what your politics are."
Hours after the attack, the US government distributed a bulletin to law enforcement across the nation warning of a "heightened threat" of domestic violent extremism against candidates and election workers driven by individuals with "ideological grievances".
However, police investigating the attack on Mr Pelosi - which they have deemed an attempted murder - told reporters a motive had not yet been fully determined.
DePape, a Berkeley resident, is now in police custody and is booked for burglary, attempted homicide, assault with a weapon, elder abuse, threatening a family member of an official, dissuading a victim, and damaging a communication channel for emergency calls.
Paul Pelosi has surgery for fractures on his skull and arms. He is recovering from the injury. They added that the intruder accused of breaking into the Pelosi home and hitting Paul Pelosi with a hammer particularly targeted the California Democrat. The 42-year-old attacker before attacking Paul asked, 'Where is Nancy?'
The intruder, David DePape, entered the home through the back entrance. Police Officers reached the house, knocked on the front door, and were led inside by an unknown person.
DePape and Pelosi were struggling for a hammer, and after the officers ordered them to drop the weapon, DePape took the hammer and violently attacked Paul Pelosi.
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed during a press conference on Friday evening that Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was somehow able to call 911 before being attacked with a hammer, allowing dispatch to respond.
Police Chief William Scott said when officers arrived Paul Pelosi and the attacker were standing in the entryway to the home, each holding onto the hammer.
Confirmation that Paul Pelosi made a 911 call came after media reports said he had secretly called 911 so that the intruder would not know and spoke in a way that would alert the dispatcher to what was happening without giving himself away.
Sources told the Los Angeles Times Paul Pelosi told the intruder he needed to use the bathroom and called 911 after stepping away, leaving the line open. The Times reported dispatcher Heather Grimes overheard Paul Pelosi and the intruder talking and alerted police to the situation.
A source with knowledge of the situation gave a similar account to CNN. John Miller, the outlet's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, said Paul Pelosi secretly called 911 somehow and left the line open. He said when dispatcher Grimes answered no one responded to her, but she could hear a background conversation and sensed something was off. She turned the volume up to listen in.
"Paul Pelosi is basically trying to tell her in code what's going on: 'Why are you here? What are you going to do to me?' I mean you can imagine how he's trying to not let the attacker know 911 is listening," Miller said.
Based on what she heard, Grimes called for a high-priority wellness check at the house, he said. When officers arrived, they saw the men struggling over the hammer before the intruder struck Pelosi with the hammer, according to Miller, who added this all happened on body camera footage.
While police didn't confirm specifics of the 911 call as reported by CNN and the LA Times, the chief did praise Grimes by name for her actions during the press conference on Friday evening.
"I want to reemphasize and thank our dispatcher Heather Grimes for her intuition, for quick thinking. 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 a higher priority dispatch and faster police response."
The San Francisco Police Department and Capitol Police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for additional information.
The suspect was identified as David Depape, two of the people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. He was in custody.
Paul Pelosi was being treated by doctors for bruising, severe swelling and other injuries. Nancy Pelosi’s office said he was expected to make a full recovery.
While the circumstances of the attack were unclear, the attack raised questions about the safety of members of Congress and their families. Threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the Capitol insurrection. The attack also came just 11 days ahead of midterm elections in which crime and public safety have emerged as top concerns among Americans.
In 2021, Capitol Police investigated around 9,600 threats made against members of Congress, and members have been physically attacked in recent years. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head at an event outside a Tucson grocery store in 2011, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was severely injured when a gunman opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball team practice in 2017.
Members of Congress have received additional dollars for security at their homes, but some have pushed for yet more protection as people have shown up at their homes and as members have received an increasing number of threatening communications.
Capitol Police, tasked with protecting congressional leaders, said Nancy Pelosi was with her protective detail in Washington at the time her husband was attacked.
Speaker Pelosi, who is second in the line of succession to the president, had just returned this week from a security conference in Europe and is due to keynote an advocacy event Saturday evening in Washington with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Capitol Police said the FBI and San Francisco police were also investigating. The suspect was in the custody of the San Francisco police.
Often at Nancy Pelosi’s side during formal events in Washington, Paul Pelosi is a wealthy investor who largely remains on the West Coast. They have five adult children and many grandchildren. The two have been married 59 years.
Earlier this year, Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges related to a May crash in California’s wine country and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation.
President Joe Biden and lawmakers from both parties reacted to the assault with shock and expressed their well wishes to the Pelosi family.
No comments:
Post a Comment