Audio from Paul Pelosi’s call to 911 the night an intruder fractured his skull with a hammer has been publicly released, revealing his frustrated call to an emergency operator while the suspected attacker, identified as David DePape, appeared to pressure him to hang up.
The audio was released along with a police officer’s body-worn camera footage, a jailhouse interview and home surveillance footage of the intruder bashing his way in, exposing publicly what has been detailed in court documents and police filings over the last few months in the wake of the October attack on the 82-year-old husband of Nancy Pelosi in their San Francisco home.
Mr Pelosi, who said he was asleep in bed when Mr DePape allegedly broke into the home in the middle of the night, told police Mr DePape was holding a hammer in one hand and plastic zip ties in the other and threatened to tie Mr Pelosi while they waited for Ms Pelosi to return.
According to court filings, Mr Pelosi was able to dial 911 from a bathroom and used the speakerphone so Mr DePape was aware that Mr Pelosi was speaking to police.
Footage from a home security camera appears to show a person identified as Mr DePape pulled a hammer out of a backpack before swinging it multiple times at a glass door.
In the two minute and 53 second call to 911 released by San Francisco Superior Court on 27 January, the operator asked whether Mr Pelosi needed the police or fire department.
“I don’t think so. Is the Capitol Police around? They are usually here at the house protecting my wife,” Mr Pelosi can be heard saying on the call.
The dispatcher clarified that he was connected with San Francisco police.
“No, I understand. OK, well, what do you think? He thinks everything’s good. I’ve got a problem, but he says everything is good,” Mr Pelosi said, sounding increasingly frustrated.
The dispatcher said he could call back, but Mr Pelosi interjected.
“No, this gentleman just came into the house, and he wants to wait here for my wife to come home,” Mr Pelosi said.
“Do you know who the person is?” the dispatcher asked.
“No, I don’t know who he is. He told me not to do anything,” Mr Pelosi replied.
The dispatcher asked for his name and address.
“He’s telling me to put the phone down and just do what he says, OK?” Mr Pelosi said.
A voice can then be heard saying “my name is David”.
“His name is David,” Mr Pelosi said.
The dispatcher then asked: “and who is David?”
“I don’t know,” Mr Pelosi said.
The voice can then be heard saying “I’m a friend of theirs.”
“He says he’s a friend, but as I said, I’ve never–” Mr Pelosi said.
The dispatcher asked Mr Pelosi to clarify whether he knew the other man.
“No, ma’am,” Mr Pelosi said. “He’s telling me I’m being very [inaudible] so I’ve got to het off the phone, OK?”
The operator offered to stay on the line “to make sure everything is OK” before the call ended.
“No, he wants me to get the hell off the phone, OK? Thank you,” Mr Pelosi said before the call ended.
Mr Pelosi then tried to escape in an elevator, which was blocked by Mr DePape, he told police, according to filings in San Francisco Superior Court and federal court.
“I told him, ‘I have other targets. I can’t be stopped right now.’ If I have to go through him, I will,” according to Mr DePape’s interview with police after his arrest, included in court filings.
“I told him I’m not f****** stupid. And you’re not f****** stupid either,” Mr DePape reportedly said in his interview.
Police arrived at the home minutes later.
Home surveillence footage also released on Friday shows the intruder using a hammer to bash a door to the Pelosi household.
It takes him roughly 30 seconds and several strikes to break through and climb into the house.
The call and the footage dispel viral conspiracy theories across social media baselessly alleging that Mr DePape was invited into the home, or that Mr Pelosi knew the intruder.
Bodycam footage of the attack shows two officers arriving at the door of the Pelosi household, where Mr DePape and Mr Pelosi stand near the doorway appearing to fight for control of the hammer.
In audio from the footage, an officer is heard asking “what’s going on, man?”
An officer yells “drop the hammer,” to which Mr DePape is heard saying, “uh, nope” before lunging at Mr Pelosi.
“I’m not trying to get away with it. I know exactly what I did,” Mr DePape said during a nearly 18-minute police interview after his arrest.
“Honestly, like, day in day out, the person who was on the TV lying every day was Pelosi,” he said.
He pointed to what he called a “record-breaking crime spree” committed by Democratic officials.
A judge in San Francisco Superior Court granted the release of the footage to media outlets this month after the footage was played in court during a preliminary hearing last month.
Mr DePape has pleaded not guilty to all state charges in the case, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse. He also pleaded not guilty to federal charges of assaulting an immediate family member of a federal official and attempted kidnapping of a federal officer for the alleged home invasion.
The attack continues to be the subject of bogus conspiracy theories contradicted by footage and audio of the attack as well as Mr DePape’s statements to police, in which he described searching for Ms Pelosi, who was in Washington DC at the time, and wanting to break her kneecaps if she failed to answer his questions.
