Paul Pelosi on Monday testified in the trial of the conspiracy theorist accused of brutally attacking him with a hammer last October, saying he had done his best not to re-live the horrific episode since the night it occurred.
The 83-year-old husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nevertheless walked the court through his memory of the early hours of Oct. 28, when David DePape allegedly broke into his home in search of his wife, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time.
“The door opened, and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other hand,” Pelosi said. “And he said ‘Where’s Nancy?’”
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Pelosi, who’d been asleep, recounted overcoming his “tremendous sense of shock” to deal with the intruder. “I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” he testified.
When Pelosi explained his wife was away in D.C., DePape said he’d have to tie Pelosi up while they waited for her to return, Pelosi said. “We had some conversation with him saying she was the leader of the pack, he had to take her out, and that he was going to wait for her,” he added.
The octagenarian said he managed to slip surreptitiously into a bathroom to dial 911 before DePape took away his cell phone. He then suggested to the intruder that they leave the bedroom, figuring that meeting police at the front door would be his best chance to live through the night.
The two men went downstairs, where DePape eventually struck Pelosi multiple times—at least three, according to an FBI agent who also gave testimony on Monday—in front of two responding police officers.
Asked what he remembered next, Pelosi said, “Waking up in a pool of blood.”
The 83-year-old was not cross-examined by DePape’s attorneys, according to NBC News. DePape was impassive as Pelosi answered questions on the stand, with the 43-year-old blinking “feverishly” down at the table in front of him, Politico reported.
Pelosi’s testimony came at the end of the second day of DePape’s trial, and marks the first time the former Speaker’s husband has spoken at length about the attack. On the stand, he grew emotional as he briefly touched on the difficult recovery from his injuries, saying he still suffers from headaches and dizziness.
“I’ve made the best effort possible to not relive this,” he said.
DePape is facing federal charges of attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official and assault on an immediate family member of the official in retaliation for performance of her job. His trial, which kicked off on Thursday, is expected to last roughly a week. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison—before he goes to trial on separate state charges, which include attempted murder and elder abuse.
DePape has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his defense lawyers have argued that he was carrying out a “bizarre, misguided plan” to strike out at a corrupt ruling elite, rather than Pelosi specifically.
Earlier in the day, FBI Special Agent Stephanie Minor testified that DePape had scoured the internet for information about the former House Speaker and her family in the days leading up to the assault, with his queries ranging from the disturbing to the outlandish.
Nine days before the Oct. 28 attack last year, DePape searched Google for Pelosi’s age and address, trawling through Google Maps to look at her San Francisco home, Minor said. He also searched for “Nancy Pelosi failing” and “Pelosi pig blood,” according to a KQED reporter in the courtroom, the latter search an apparent reference to a 2021 incident wherein Pelosi’s house was vandalized with fake blood and a pig’s head.
According to Minor, DePape also looked up the infamous “Poopalosi” video, where a YouTuber livestreamed himself defecating in Pelosi’s driveway, ostensibly in honor of Donald Trump.
The special agent also verified a number of online purchases that DePape made nearly two months before the assault, ordering a number of items that he would schlep out to the Pelosis’ home. That order history included items like body cameras, a sleeping bag, a USB memory stick, and—though it was unclear why—an inflatable unicorn costume and a box of crayons.
Also called to the stand on Monday was the chief legal officer of Spokeo, a search engine that aggregates people’s personal information, according to a reporter for NBC Bay Area. The executive, Jason Matthes, testified that DePape purchased a subscription to the service nine days before the assault, looking up “Nancy Pelosi” and other people in “West Hollywood” and “Beverly Hills,” the reporter tweeted.
Police previously said that, besides Pelosi, DePape had a number of other “targets,” including actor Tom Hanks and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. An FBI computer analyst testified earlier on Monday, according to KQED, that DePape had kept a “Favorite Politicians” file on his computer, where he collected information on Pelosi. He also had 17 files on Hanks on his hard drive, the analyst said.
A number of other law enforcement officials also gave testimony about the attack and investigation on Monday. Among the witnesses were a U.S. Capitol police officer who monitored the surveillance cameras at the Pelosis’ home, a Bay Area Rapid Transit police sergeant, and a digital forensics expert, the Associated Press reported.
Monday’s proceedings also notably included prosecutors playing back part of the police body camera footage capturing the early morning attack, which DePape watched without a visible reaction, according to the Daily Mail.
