More details emerged Monday after the Department of Justice filed federal kidnapping and assault charges against David DePape, the man accused in the attack last week against Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
DePape, 42, is accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer after breaking into the Pelosis’ Pacific Heights home in San Francisco on Friday morning. DePape was charged with assault on an immediate family member of a federal official and attempted kidnapping of a federal official, with additional charges expected.
The federal complaint has also debunked conspiracy theories that have spread on the internet, fueling rhetoric in right-wing circles and casting doubt on some of the facts of the attack. The conspiracy theories have gone from fringe to the mainstream, with members of Congress sharing them. A Los Angeles Times review of his online accounts show that DePape had been drifting further into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate.
