Paul Pelosi’s alleged attacker calls TV station
A The Bay Area TV station said the man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer in his Pacific Heights home in October called the station with a message on Friday after a higher court in San Francisco released audio and video of the attack on the same day.
From San Francisco County Jail, 42-year-old David DePape, who has been charged with attempted murder, elder abuse and federal kidnapping charges in connection with the attack, called KTVU’s Amber Lee , telling him he had an “important message” and claiming he led the assault on Pelosi because “people’s freedoms were under attack.” He also oddly apologized for not hurting more people, the station reported.
He also claimed he had the “names and addresses” of the people he claims were responsible for suppressing freedom.
“I want to apologize to everyone. I messed up. What I did was really bad,” DePape said on the sub-six-minute call, according to KTVU. “I didn’t have more. It’s my fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared.”
The station said Friday’s call was ‘unexpected’ and DePape told the reporter she couldn’t ask follow-up questions because he didn’t want to ‘jeopardize his case’ but allowed the recording of the phone call.
Read more: What the GOP response to Paul Pelosi’s attack reveals about our miserable political speech
One of the videos released during the Oct. 28 attack that happened around 2:30 a.m. shows DePape smashing through a glass door in the house that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shares with her husband before entering the residence. Authorities say Pelosi was asleep at the time and DePape forced him to get up, but Pelosi was able to call 911 from the bathroom.
DePape realized he had called 911 and taken Pelosi to the entrance of the house, according to court documents. Once police arrived, DePape and Pelosi can both be seen on body camera footage holding the hammer before DePape charged towards Pelosi, 82, with the hammer swinging overhead. Officers can then be seen attacking DePape.
Pelosi lost consciousness during the attack, but woke up later, authorities said. The blow to Pelosi is not caught on camera, but he suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his arm and hand and later had to undergo surgery.
Several news agencies requested the release of the video after the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office initially said it would not release exhibits used by prosecutors in court to reporters. On Wednesday, a California court ruled that the documents should be made public, and on Friday, 911 calls, body camera footage and surveillance footage from that night were released.
DePape’s attorneys had also argued that releasing the video would “irreparably impair” his right to a fair trial.
Read more: The attack on Paul Pelosi and America’s long history of political violence
Nancy Pelosi said she did not plan to watch video of the attack, and DePape had previously told authorities she was the original target, but she was in Washington at the time. Since the assault, Nancy Pelosi has said she plans to step down as Democratic Party leader, but will continue to serve in the Legislative Assembly.
DePape, who has pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 23.
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