The son of David DePape, the man alleged to have attacked Paul Pelosi—the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—in their home, said that he has “more questions than answers” about the incident, nearly two months after it happened.
“He isn’t a danger to society, I don’t even know if he even attacked Mr. Pelosi,” he said, countering claims made by federal officials and the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.
Gonzalez also claimed that the attack was not politically motivated, although San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins indicated that it was and that DePape had a list of targets that he wanted to attack.
“My father had a lot of political views and told me about a lot of different things, but he didn’t subscribe to either political party, Democrat or Republican,” he said, adding that he believed his father was a member of the Green Party.
Gonzalez disputed allegations that DePape was motivated by right-wing political views. DePape’s former partner, nudist activist Oxane “Gypsy” Taub, previously told media outlets that DePape had progressive views on a number of issues but was “mentally ill.”
“My father had progressive views. He believed in human rights, equality, and justice. He was against the war, he was a peace activist, hardly a right-wing conservative, as he has been branded,” he told the tabloid.
Charges
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy last week ruled that prosecutors had shown enough evidence during a preliminary hearing to move forward with a trial on the state charges, including attempted murder. DePape is due back in state court on Dec. 28.DePape is accused of breaking into the Paul and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) San Francisco home Oct. 28, seeking to kidnap the speaker and instead hit her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, authorities said.
Lt. Carla Hurley, who interviewed DePape for an hour the day of the attack, testified Wednesday that the defendant told her of other people he wanted to target, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, actor Tom Hanks, and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. Hurley did not say whether police had any evidence of a plot against them, and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said after the hearing she couldn’t comment further.
DePape, who appeared in court wearing orange jail clothes, has pleaded not guilty to federal and state charges, including attempted murder, burglary, and elder abuse. He remains held without bail. “There is evil in Washington, what they did went so far beyond the campaign,” DePape told Hurley, according to a recording of their interview that was played in court.
Hurley said DePape told her that after he saw the lights of a police patrol car, he told Paul Pelosi, “I’m not going to surrender, I am here to fight. If you stop me from going after people, you will take the punishment instead,” according to The Associated Press.
However, there have been questions about what unfolded during the incident. An NBC News report about the attack that cited sources claimed DePape opened the door to their San Francisco home in October when police arrived. However, he did not try to escape or alert police to an emergency before walking to the police and back toward DePape.
After that NBC video was published online, it was quickly retracted and the reporter, Miguel Almaguer, was suspended by the network. NBC provided no explanation for why it was pulled.
“It’s unclear if the 82-year-old was already injured or what his mental state was, say sources,” Almaguer said in the retracted report, which appeared to contradict what federal and local officials alleged about the attack in court papers.
