Gavin Newsom says he partly blames Fox News for fueling anger toward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul that led to the attack at their home on Friday.
In an interview with CBS News, the California governor said: “I’ve seen the dehumanisation of Nancy Pelosi. I don’t think anyone’s been dehumanised like she has consistently.”
“Now I watched this one guy, Jesse Watters or something on Fox News. What he’s been saying about Paul Pelosi the last five, six months, mocking him consistently. Don’t tell me that’s not aiding and abetting all this. Of course it is,” he told the CBS’s chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett.
“They’re sowing the seeds, creating a culture and a climate like this,” he added. “I mean, look online. Look at the sewage that is online that they amplify on these networks and in social media to dehumanise people like Nancy Pelosi and other political leaders.”
The governor also reflected on his own experience, leading up to last year’s recall election against him, when asked about Rep Debbie Dingel’s recent comments to Axios that someone will be killed who is a lawmaker.
“I know what over the last three years has come into my inbox. Trust me, you don’t, because I’m not sharing it, I’m not even sharing it with my wife. I’ve got four kids, so I know a little about this. It wasn’t just a recall against me, it was surround sound in every way, shape or form,” said Mr Newsom.
Acknowledging that some of the abuse and criticism comes with the job, he added: “Something’s different here, the mind has been stretched, people feel free to shove again … once this election is over, I hope and pray that we can start to reconcile those differences because this just can’t continue, it just can’t.”
Mr Watters responded to the governor’s remarks on his Fox News show on Monday evening saying that it was Mr Newsom who “has done more to aid and abet the attack on Paul Pelosi than anybody else” through California’s status as a sanctuary state and policies that “did not deport the deranged drug addict felon who thinks he’s Jesus” who attacked the husband of the speaker of the House.
David DePape, the man suspected of attacking Speaker Pelosi’s husband with a hammer at their San Francisco home, is now facing federal charges.
The charges of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official and attempted kidnapping of a federal official were outlined in a criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday afternoon.
The filing happened three days after 42-year-old Mr DePape was accused of breaking and entering into the couple’s Pacific Heights home and assaulting the 82-year-old Mr Pelosi.
The criminal complaint was based on an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Stephanie Minor and states that Mr DePape attacked Mr Pelosi “with intent to retaliate against” the speaker “on account of the performance of official duties”.
“DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps’,” the complaint said. “DePape was certain that Nancy would not have told the ‘truth.’ In the course of the interview, DePape articulated he viewed Nancy as the ‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party.”
The document continued: “DePape also later explained that 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.
