David DePape: Trial begins for Paul Pelosi’s accused attacker

A man has gone on trial accused of breaking into senior US politician Nancy Pelosi’s California home and attacking her husband with a hammer.

David DePape, 43, faces two federal charges: one count of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and one count of assaulting a federal official’s family member.

After the attack, Paul Pelosi spent six days in hospital with a fractured skull.

Mr DePape has pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for the attempted kidnapping charge and 30 years in prison for the assault on a federal official’s family member.

A jury was selected on 6 November.

Mr Pelosi, 83, also suffered arm and hand injuries in the attack. He is expected to testify from the stand next week.

According to court documents, on 28 October 2022, Mr DePape broke into the Pelosi’s San Francisco home using a hammer and asked for Ms Pelosi, who was not there at the time.

Mr Pelosi then called the police who arrived and found the pair jointly gripping a hammer.

Officers asked Mr DePape to drop the weapon, to which he replied “ummm nope,” before he “swung the hammer abruptly and forcefully at Mr Pelosi”, according to court documents.

Mr DePape told police at the scene that he was sick of the “lies coming out of Washington DC”.

He told police in an interview after his arrest that he had a “target list” which included Ms Pelosi, and that he planned to hold her hostage and break “her kneecaps” if she did not tell the “truth”.

At the time of the attack, Ms Pelosi was Speaker of the House of Representatives and second in line to the presidency.

Mr DePape was known to have embraced multiple right-wing conspiracy theories on hot-button topics such as voter fraud, climate change and Covid-19, according to the BBC’s US media partner CBS.

He has also posted antisemitic rants and statements defending former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

In addition to federal charges, Mr DePape faces state charges, including attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, threats to a public official and others that carry potential penalties of 13 years to life in prison.

Mr DePape has also pleaded not guilty to those charges.