EXCLUSIVE: Attack on Paul Pelosi Won’t Have ‘Any Political Effect That Matters’: Newt Gingrich

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), in Washington on Oct. 24, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband would not take attention away from voters who are more focused on kitchen table issues, according to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“The reality is for most Americans, the price of food the price of gasoline, the price of heating oil, the crime level in their city, the number of illegal immigrants coming in—there are lots of things going on that affect Americans personally every day,” Gingrich, a contributor to The Epoch Times, said in an interview.

“That, I think, has much more impact on the election,” he said.

David DePape, 42, allegedly broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco on Oct. 28 as part of an attempt to kidnap the House speaker, and assaulted Paul Pelosi, according to prosecutors. Local police who responded to a 911 call made by Paul Pelosi witnessed the two men both holding onto one hammer. DePape then pulled the hammer and used it to strike Paul Pelosi’s head, who fell to the ground, an FBI affidavit said. He is facing a slew of federal and state charges, including assault and attempted murder.

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

Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a fractured skull and injuries to his right arm and hands. Nancy Pelosi on Oct. 31 said he is “making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.”

Gingrich, who knows the 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, called the incident “horrible” and wrong. “He’s in our prayers,” the former speaker said.

The break-in has added fuel to tensions leading up to the Nov. 8 midterms, where Republicans are projected to make gains, with politicians from both sides trading blame.

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President Joe Biden, for one, linked the attacker’s alleged words to rioters’ “Where’s Nancy?” chant during the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, referring to media reports citing anonymous sources that DePape had asked “Where’s Nancy” during the break-in. Biden also blamed Republicans for inciting political violence.

Republicans, meanwhile, have argued that this incident spotlights the crime crisis faced by big cities like San Francisco.

But Gingrich doesn’t believe the event has “any political effect that matters.”

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

“I think the fact that it’s turned out that this is not a legal immigrant, who shouldn’t have even been in the U.S., tells you something about our failure to control the border and to control people who are breaking the law,” he said, referencing a Fox News report, citing an anonymous Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official, that DePape is a Canadian-born who has long overstayed his visa in the United States.

Faulting Republican rhetoric for allegedly inciting violence also fails to recognize such comments coming from the other side, Gingrich contended.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in March 2020 landed in hot water when he appeared to threaten conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh and and Neil Gorsuch, warning them they “will pay the price” and that they “won’t know what hit” them if they ruled in favor of restricting abortion rights. Following intense criticism, Schumer later conceded that he “shouldn’t have used the words” he did, but insisted that he wasn’t making a threat.

Biden, in a September primetime address in Philadelphia, accused “MAGA Republicans”—those who support his predecessor Donald Trump—as threats to the “very foundations of our republic.”

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) uses crutches after returning to the Capitol Hill for the first time after being shot in June at a congressional baseball team practice in Alexandria, Va., in Washington on Sept. 28, 2017. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

House Minority Whip, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), was shot by a left-wing political activist in 2017 while practicing baseball in a park with roughly two dozen other Republican congressmen.

While Gingrich conceded that there is “too much harsh language” in the political landscape nowadays, he doesn’t think “the Democrats are in a very good position to blame Republicans.”

“I think there’s more than enough to go around,” he added.

After the attack, the Capitol Police chief asked for additional funding to boost security for lawmakers, but Gingrich believes such measures miss the point.

“I think it’s exactly wrong. Because if your city is that dangerous, why aren’t we set protecting everybody in the city?” he said.

On the same day of the Pelosi assault, the city recorded 91 crime cases, including six incidents of robbery, four assaults, eight burglaries, and one arson.

While San Francisco’s interim District Attorney Brooke Jenkins stressed the absence of security present at the time of the housebreaking, Gingrich said he wants the issue to be looked at more broadly.

“Generally speaking, you don’t have continuous security when you are not like the president or the vice president, and I don’t think we should,” he said.

The U.S. Capitol Police confirmed on Nov. 2 that it monitors cameras at Pelosi’s home, but that they were not “actively monitored” at the time of the break-in because the congresswoman was not at the residence.

“I don’t want to see us become a country where as long as you’re rich and powerful, you’re okay, but everybody else is in danger. I want us to lock up criminals so that the city is safe for everybody,” Gingrich said.