US FEDERAL AUTHOROTIES have charged California man David Depape with attempting to kidnap US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after her husband Paul was attacked in their San Francisco home.

Facing two federal charges, Depape is charged with attempted kidnap and assault. 

The Justice Department allege Depape had tape, rope and other materials with him indicating he had intended to tie up Congress’s top Democrat when he broke into her home on Friday, but found only her husband, whom he attacked with a hammer.

Paul Pelosi was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into the Pelosi home.

The intruder allegedly confronted him shouting for the speaker’s whereabouts. 

According to the complaint, Depape allgedly told police interviewers that he was going to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and talk to her. If Nancy was to tell Depape the “truth,” he would let her go, and if she “lied,” he was going to break “her kneecaps”, the complaint said. 

The complaint said that in the course of the interview, Depape articulated he viewed Nancy as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party and 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. 

The complaint also detailed that minutes after the 911 call, two police officers responded to the Pelosi residence where they encountered Paul Pelosi and DePape struggling over a hammer.

Officers told the men to drop the hammer, and DePape allegedly gained control of the hammer and swung it, striking Pelosi in the head. Officers immediately restrained DePape, while Pelosi appeared to be unconscious on the ground.

As set forth in the complaint, once DePape was restrained, officers secured a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and zip ties from the crime scene, where officers also observed a broken glass door to the back porch.  

“Pelosi was asleep when DePape came into Pelosi’s bedroom and stated he wanted to talk to ‘Nancy.’ When Pelosi told him that Nancy was not there, DePape stated that he would sit and wait,” the Justice Department complaint said, according to US media. 

The complaint says Paul Pelosi called authorities from the bathroom.

David DePape, 42, grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, was arrested at the Pelosi home on Friday. 

© – AFP 2022 with reporting by Rónán Duffy