Court Hears New Details on Paul Pelosi Attack

The man charged with attacking Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer had other people on his hit list, including Tom Hanks, a court in San Francisco heard Wednesday. An officer who interviewed David DePape hours after the attack on Paul Pelosi said the suspect told him his other targets included the actor, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Hunter Biden, and feminist writer Gayle Rubin, the New York Times reports. In an interrogation tape played in court, DePape said Democrats had been on a "crime spree" and persecuting the Trump campaign. "I'm not trying to get away with it. I know exactly what I did," he said, per KRON4. "The lies are insane. People in Washington. It originates with Hillary." He said he planned to take Nancy Pelosi hostage and break her kneecaps.

DePape, accused of breaking into the Pelosis' San Francisco home on Oct. 28, apparently unaware that the House speaker was out of town, has pleaded not guilty to numerous state charges, including attempted murder. A 911 call played in court refuted conspiracy theories that Paul Pelosi knew DePape before the attack, the Los Angeles Times reports. Prosecutors said Pelosi was trying to alert the dispatcher that something was wrong without angering DePape, who was listening nearby. He told them somebody was in his home waiting for his wife to return. "Do you know who the person is?" the dispatcher said. "No, I don’t know who he is," Pelosi said. "He told me not to do anything."

Police body camera footage played in court shows that when officers arrived at the home, both men had a hand on the hammer, the Times reports. When police ordered DePape to drop it, he said, "Uh, nope" and took control of the weapon, hitting the 82-year-old Pelosi in the head with full force. Pelosi was hospitalized for six days. During the police interrogation, DePape said he told Pelosi: "I’m here to fight. If you stop me, you will take the punishment instead." San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy ruled that there was enough evidence for a trial to proceed, the BBC reports. DePape also faces separate federal charges. (DePape, a 42-year-old Canadian citizen, had been living in California illegally for more than a decade.)