Tipsheet

The Bizarre Home Invasion Saga Involving Paul Pelosi Comes to an End

The bizarre home invasion of the Pelosi home in 2022 is over. The attacker, David DePape, has been sentenced to 30 years in jail for this incident, where he broke into the home of the former House speaker and held Mr. Paul Pelosi hostage with a hammer. He struck Mr. Pelosi, which required brain surgery (via NYT): 

The man who broke into the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi two years ago and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in federal prison, with credit for time already served. 

Ms. Pelosi was the speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency at the time of the attack, which raised fears of politically motivated violence in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. 

The assailant, David DePape, was convicted in November 2023 on federal charges. He admitted on the witness stand during the trial that he had carried out the attack, as he had done before in interviews with the police and media outlets. But he said he never intended to hurt Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. 

Mr. DePape said his intrusion into the couple’s home in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood was part of a plot to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and interrogate her about a supposed corrupt conspiracy led by Ms. Pelosi and other prominent liberal figures. 

DePape isn’t a domestic terrorist nor a supporter of Donald Trump. He’s mentally ill, which is why the liberal media’s initial pivot to blame this attack on Republicans fell flat. The more details revealed, the more it showed this man was unhinged. There were theories about how this encounter might have been a tryst between the two men. The security camera footage suggests otherwise, with DePape breaking into the house. Multiple narratives ran amok since authorities failed to release the home security footage. In January 2023, the police bodycam footage was finally released: 

I’m not sure the conspiracy theories about why this happened will die, but DePape is going away for decades. This story is over. Mr. Pelosi getting unwanted media attention, however, is a whole other matter.