Intruder who attacked US House Speaker’s husband says it was a suicide misison

The intruder who broke into US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and severely injured her husband, says it was a suicide mission. David DePape hit Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer, leaving him unconscious in a pool of blood leaving him to be hospitalised with a skull fracture. DePape was captured and arrested, telling police that he was on a suicide mission that included breaking Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps and going after other politicians and their relatives.

The October 28 attack occurred at 2am, with DePape giving the reason for the attack as being “sick of the level of lies coming out of Washington, DC.” He then went on to say that he didn’t really want to hurt him (Paul Pelosi), but it was a suicide mission and that he was not going to stand there and do nothing even if it cost him his life.

According to The Straits Times, Nancy Pelosi was in Washington during the break-in at her San Francisco home. The attack came less than two weeks before the US midterm election, thrusting the potential for violence to the forefront of the elections. DePape has been linked to blog posts that attacked the government and technology giants, pushing far-right conspiracy theories.

Now, his conspiracy theories may be used as a defence as his lawyer says his exposure to “political misinformation, propaganda” could be brought up in court. Apart from the misinformation, his lawyer says he has not yet assessed his client’s mental state. DePape allegedly threatened to tie up Paul Pelosi with plastic zip ties so that he could sleep while he awaited Nancy Pelosi’s arrival at home. While captive, Paul Pelosi tried to talk to DePape by asking him why he wanted to talk to his wife.

“Well, she’s number two in line for the presidency, right?”

DePape also allegedly said that “they are all corrupt….we’ve got to take them all out.”

The court filing stated that the defendant was asked if he had any other plans to which he responded by saying that he had several targets. Those targets included several prominent state and federal politicians and their relatives, and a local professor.

DePape has been charged with attempted murder, residential burglary, elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment of an elder, attempted kidnapping of a US official, and assault of an immediate family member of a US official in retaliation for performing her duties. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.