A man has been charged with attempting to kidnap United State House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and assaulting her husband.
David DePape, who is accused of using a hammer to beat Paul Pelosi at the couple’s San Francisco residence last week, was also charged with attempted murder in California in addition to federal charges.
The accusations against DePape were made public yesterday hours after the US Justice Department accused him of attempted kidnapping and assault.
The assaults include domestic burglary, false detention of an elderly person, and threatening a public official’s family member.
After resisting an intruder at his house last week, Pelosi suffered critical injuries on his right arm, hands, and cranium that required surgery to correct.
Authorities said that DePape told them he intended to kidnap the Democratic leader and “crush her kneecaps” to demonstrate to other members of Congress that there were “consequences to their acts.”
In a federal complaint, authorities claim that DePape came into the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning while carrying zip ties and tape in a backpack, walked upstairs where Pelosi was sleeping, and asked to speak to “Nancy”.
Even after being assured she wouldn’t be home for a few days, DePape suggested that he was unwilling to leave the home.
The eight-page complaint claims that DePape told the police he intended to kidnap Pelosi so he could speak to her and that he saw her as the “head of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party.
The complainant claims that if she told DePape the “truth,” he would release her, but if she “lied,” he would shatter “her kneecaps.”
It states that shattering Nancy’s kneecaps would force her to be carried into Congress, demonstrating to other lawmakers that actions have consequences.
If convicted, DePape faces decades in prison for both cases.
