Tipsheet

Pelosi Tells CNN What Will Affect Her Decision Over Whether to Retire From Congress

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  November 08, 2022 8:00 AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the attack on her husband, Paul, last month will impact her decision on whether she retires from Congress if the GOP takes control of the House in the midterm elections. 

“I have to say my decision will be affected about what happened the last week or two,” the California Democrat told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. 

Cooper followed up to clarify whether her decision will specifically be “impacted by the attack,” to which Pelosi responded, “Yes.”

The Speaker’s comments came in the first sit-down interview she’s given since the attack, when suspect David DePape, an illegal immigrant with a history of drug abuse and mental illness, broke into the couple’s San Francisco home reportedly looking for the speaker. DePape hit Pelosi with a hammer causing a skeletal fracture and severe injuries to his arm and hands. 

Paul Pelosi has since been released from the hospital but has a long recovery ahead, the Speaker said. 

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In another part of the interview, Pelosi describes how she learned about the incident. 

“I was sleeping in Washington, D.C., I had just gotten in the night before from San Francisco, and I hear the doorbell ring and think, it’s five something, I look up I see it’s five, it must be the wrong apartment. No. It rings again and then bang, bang, bang, bang, bang on the door,” she recalled. “So I run to the door and I was very scared, I see the Capitol Police, and they said we have to come in to talk to you.” 

Pelosi initially thought something had happened to one of her children or grandchildren. 

“I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn’t be out and about, shall we say,” Pelosi explained. 

“And so they came in,” Pelosi said of the police. “At that time we didn’t even know where he was or what his condition was, we just knew there was an assault on him in our home.”