Nancy Pelosi: Retirement Decision ‘Will Be Affected’ by Attack on Husband

Paul Pelosi (L) and then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) attend the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner at Washington Hilton in Washington, on April 28, 2018. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that the alleged attack on her husband Paul will impact whether she decides to retire from Congress if Democrats lose control of the House during the midterm elections.

When specifically asked about whether her decision will be affected by the attack on her husband, Pelosi responded: “Yes.

“I have to say my decision will be affected about what happened the last week or two,” Pelosi told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an excerpt of an interview.

On Oct. 28, according to officials, 42-year-old Canadian national David DePape broke into their San Francisco home in the early morning hours before approaching Paul Pelosi and demanding to see his wife. Speaker Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., at the time, police said.

After Paul Pelosi called 911, police officers arrived and saw the two with their hands on the same hammer, according to charging documents. DePape then hit Pelosi in the head with the hammer, fracturing his skull.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice charged DePape with assault and attempted kidnapping in connection to the attack. He also faces local charges as San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins filed six separate felony accounts against him, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment of an elder, elder abuse, burglary, and other charges; DePape has pleaded not guilty.

Election

Her comments come as tens of millions of voters went to the polls on Tuesday as many analysts predicted that Republicans will handily retake the House, which would put an end to Pelosi’s tenure as speaker. The election results would also raise questions about whether Pelosi, 82, will retire after representing her California district for more than 30 years.

In 2018, Pelosi vowed to give up her speaker position by the end of the 2022–23 term, although there have been claims that she might attempt to retain her position. Others have speculated that her daughter, Christine Pelosi—a longtime Democrat activist—would run for California’s 12th Congressional District, which is located entirely within San Francisco.

Some left-wing members of her party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have suggested that Pelosi and other top House Democrats should relinquish control to make way for younger members.

A general view of the home of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi where her husband Paul Pelosi was violently assaulted after a break-in at their house, according to a statement from her office, in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2022. Carlos Barria/Reuters

Following the alleged attack, questions have been raised about why the Pelosi home did not have security guards and whether the U.S. Capitol Police officials were monitoring security cameras.  House Administration committee chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) sent a letter to U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger with “significant questions” about the incident and security protocols at the home of Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris.

Jenkins previously said that she will move to block the release of evidence including the 911 call and police body camera footage to the public.

“For us, revealing that evidence through the media is just not what we think is appropriate,” Jenkins told CNN last Thursday. “We want to make sure that this individual is held accountable for these egregious acts,” she added. “For us, we’re going to make sure that we limit the evidence as much as possible in order to get that done.”

While the House speaker suggested in the Monday interview that Republican claims of election fraud led to the attack, a former girlfriend of DePape suggested he was mentally ill and also shared her left-wing political viewpoints when they were in a relationship ago.