David DePape who attacked and injured US House speaker’s husband Paul Pelosi wanted to show other members of Congress there were “consequences to actions”, authorities said.
DePape told investigators he wanted to talk to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and viewed her as the “leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party”, according to the eight-page complaint.
“If she were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go and if she ’lied’, he was going to break her kneecaps,” the complaint alleges.
“By breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of Congress there were consequences to actions,” the complaint says DePape told investigators.
In a federal complaint, officials say the 42-year-old was carrying zip ties and tape in a backpack when he broke into the couple’s San Francisco home early on Friday morning before going upstairs where 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was sleeping and demanded to talk to “Nancy”.
When Mr Pelosi told the intruder she was not there, DePape said he would wait – even after being told she would not be home for some days, it said.
“This house and the speaker herself were specifically targets,” San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins said at a news conference announcing state charges against DePape, including attempted murder.
“This was politically motivated,” Ms Jenkins said. She implored the public to “watch the words that we say and to turn down the volume of our political rhetoric”.
“This was not something that he did at the spur of the moment,” she said.
In a statement, Speaker Pelosi said her family was “most grateful” for “thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and warm wishes”. Her husband underwent surgery for a fractured skull and other injuries after the attack and she said he was making “steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.”
DePape is a Canadian citizen who legally entered the United States in 2000 but has stayed long after his visa expired.
