In the ongoing saga of the break-in at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home and and subsequent assault of her husband Paul, new information has been confirmed that raising more questions about the security and monitoring systems in place at the million-dollar home of one of the most powerful individuals in the U.S. government.
According to Fox News' Capitol Hill reporter Chad Pergram, the United States Capitol Police did have eyes on the Pelosi's home from afar at the time the break-in and assault was taking place "but no one saw anything until they noticed police lights at her home."
1) Fox confirms that US Capitol Police had video from external cameras at the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during the attack on her husband last week. But no one saw anything until they noticed police lights at her home after the incident.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 2, 2022
The Washington Post reported more on how USCP found out what was going on 2,000 miles away in San Francisco:
The officer in D.C. quickly pulled up additional camera angles from around Pelosi’s home and began to backtrack, watching recordings from the minutes before San Francisco police arrived. There, on camera, was a man with a hammer, breaking a glass panel and entering the speaker’s home, according to three people familiar with how Capitol Police learned of the break-in and who have been briefed on or viewed the video themselves.
That is, there was a live video feed in which the alleged perpetrator — who has since entered a "not guilty" plea — presumably was seen lurking around the property and breaking into the Pelosi home. But no one was paying attention. And no, it wouldn't have been on a delay or only visible after the incident. Fox confirmed what the Post reported, that Capitol Police "would have witnessed the break-in in real-time." But they didn't, and only saw it happening when they replayed a recording from the night of the attack after seeing police lights outside the Speaker's house.
2) Fox confirms that the USCP would have witnessed the break-in in real-time. Capitol Police then only saw the attack on Paul Pelosi when they ran the tape back.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 2, 2022
Apparently, according to Pergram, Capitol Police "pay less attention when a protectee isn't home," which was the case during the attack — Speaker Pelosi was on the East Coast at the time as she was set to deliver remarks at a dinner in Washington, D.C., an appearance that she subsequently canceled in order to travel back to San Francisco to be with her husband.
3) That said, some important context:
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 2, 2022
Fox is told that Capitol Police pay less attention when a protectee isn’t home. During the attack, the Speaker was in Washington. Her husband Paul Pelosi was in San Francisco.
Indeed, as the Post noted based on its conversations with people who reviewed the footage or were familiar with USCP activity leading up to the break-in, "hours after Pelosi left San Francisco last week and returned to D.C., much of the security left with her, and officers in Washington stopped continuously monitoring video feeds outside her house."
Still, as the Post's report explains, "[i]f the Capitol Police were going to stop an attack at the home of any member of Congress, they had perhaps the best chance to do so at Pelosi’s, according to several current and former law enforcement officials, many of whom spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because the break-in remains under investigation."