NBC News correspondent Miguel Almaguer has not appeared on the air since a Nov. 4 report on details surrounding the attack targeting Paul Pelosi last month was retracted without explanation.
Almaguer is usually featured on NBC’s “Today” and “Nightly News” programs. Reports earlier this month indicated that he was suspended by the network after the video report was retracted, and he has not been seen on NBC since then.
Meanwhile, NBC News or its parent company has not issued any statements on why Almaguer is gone, if he was suspended, and for how long. Almaguer also has not publicly commented on the matter.
NBC News has not returned a request for comment on Monday on if or when Almaguer will return. The Epoch Times also contacted Almaguer for comment.
What Was Said
In his retracted video report, Almaguer said that Paul Pelosi—the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—opened the door to their San Francisco home last month when police arrived. However, he did not try to escape or alert police to an emergency, and he instead walked to the police and back toward the alleged attacker, David DePape.When his report was shared en masse on Nov. 4, coming days after the attack was reported, NBC removed the report from its website and social media.
“After a ‘knock and announce,’ the front door was opened by Mr. Pelosi. The 82-year-old did not immediately declare an emergency or tried to leave his home but instead began walking several feet back into the foyer toward the assailant and away from police,” Almaguer said in the now-deleted Nov. 4 video report. Almaguer cited unnamed sources for the claims.
His report appeared to contradict some official statements that were made by police and the local district attorney’s office, who said police officers arrived to find Pelosi struggling with DePape over a hammer. When police told the two to drop the hammer, DePape allegedly then struck Pelosi, 82, in the head with it, according to the DA’s office.
More Details
Pelosi’s office confirmed later that Paul Pelosi returned from the hospital about a week after the alleged attack. DePape has, in the meantime, pleaded not guilty to federal and state charges.Paul Pelosi told a 911 dispatcher that he was sleeping when a man he had never seen before entered his bedroom looking for Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington, D.C. Officers later found a broken glass door to the back porch. They recovered zip ties, a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, and a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, according to court documents.
DePape’s alleged motive “could not have been clearer,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins wrote in the filing: “He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi’s absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating in the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi.”
“The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy,” Taub told The Epoch Times on Nov. 22. In a blog post, Taub called on Pelosi to release some records to the public and claimed DePape “was a peace activist” and “never expressed any desires to solve political problems through violence.”
“If you have any control of this investigation (which I am not going to assume you do), please tell the authorities to release the security camera footage, the body camera footage from different angles, the entire dispatch tape, and witness interviews instead of spreading conspiracy theories about David,” Taub wrote.
