Man who attacked Paul Pelosi apologizes, says Nancy Pelosi was the target

WASHINGTON — David DePape, the man accused of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s house and assaulting her husband, apologized for the incident and voiced conspiracy theories during testimony on Tuesday.

Paul Pelosi, 83, testified on Monday that he was asleep when the door to his bedroom opened in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2022, and DePape, 43, came in with a hammer and zip ties. The suspect allegedly asked, “where’s Nancy?”

Police body camera footage shows that DePape at one point struck Paul Pelosi with the hammer. DePape pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault charges last year.

DePape testified this week that he went to Pelosi’s house because he wanted to discuss Russian involvement in the 2016 election with the former speaker and get her and other officials to admit their purported corruption, according to the Associated Press.

“If she lied, I would break her kneecaps,” he said. “The choice is on her.”

He said he then wanted President Joe Biden to pardon the officials he targeted “so we can move forward as a country."

He said he had sympathy for Paul Pelosi after hearing testimony from his neurosurgeon on how he had two wounds on his head, including a fracture to the skull.

“He was never my target, and I’m sorry that he got hurt,” DePape said.

He added that, “I reacted because my plan was basically ruined.”

DePape has previously said he believed the media lied about former President Donald Trump and echoed the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims there is a global cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic child sex traffickers, on blogs and online forums.

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: David DePape apologizes for attacking Nancy Pelosi husband with hammer