In her first television interview since her husband, Paul Pelosi, was violently assaulted, Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the first terrifying moments she learned from the Capitol Police. what happened inside their home in San Francisco on October 28, and says the traumatic episode will influence her decisions about her political future.
“I never thought it would be Paul,” 82-year-old Pelosi said in a live interview with Anderson Cooper that aired on CNN on Monday night.
When Mr. Cooper asked if she had made a decision about whether to retire if Democrats lost the House, Ms. Pelosi said her decision would be affected by the attack, but she did not specify how. any.
Ms. Pelosi said that on the morning of the attack, she was sleeping at her home in Washington when she heard the doorbell ring and knock.
Capitol Police officers told her that Pelosi was attacked at their home in San Francisco and hospitalized, she said. She immediately boarded the plane and went to a hospital in San Francisco, where her husband lay recovering from a traumatic brain injury, which thankfully “didn’t pierce his brain,” Ms Pelosi said.
The interview comes more than a week after Mr. Pelosi, 82, was injured by an intruder hit him on the head with a hammer in the early morning of October 28 before being stopped and controlled by police officers. According to authorities, the intruder asked to meet Ms. Pelosi.
Mr. Pelosi underwent surgery for a fractured skull and serious injuries to his right hand and arm. The doctors said they wished him a full recovery.
The man charged in the attack, David DePape, later told police that he considered Ms Pelosi “the leader of a group of ‘Democrats’ lies and that he wanted to break the collarbone. her tea if she lied to him..
Mr. DePape already charged by federal prosecutors with a plot to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and assault a relative of a federal official. He did not plead guilty certain state crimes.
Authorities examined what appeared to be Mr. DePape’s extensive online presence, including angry words and extremist views.
In an interview with CNN, Pelosi said there is a parallel between DePape’s actions and beliefs and those of the thousands of people who took part in last year’s January 6 attack on the Capitol, describing both as fires “fueled by misinformation.”
“This is not a path we can continue on,” she said. “And we want people to run for office, local or anyway, and you can’t tell them, ‘You’re risking the safety of your family by moving forward.’
Pelosi’s comments come on the eve of Election Day, as candidates across the country give their final greetings to voters as one of the most consequential midterm campaigns in US history. The modern era is coming to an end.
“A vote tomorrow,” she said, “is a vote to defend our democracy.”
