Nancy Pelosi reveals extent of husband Paul's injuries; Traumatizing return to San Francisco home
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Paul Pelosi returned to the family's San Francisco home, he paused at the doorway where he was violently attacked and injured in a hammer attack by a politically motivated intruder.
In a lengthy interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked about the extent of her husband's injuries and long journey to recovering both physically and emotionally.
With her voice filled with emotion during the interview, Pelosi said she has not talked about the Oct. 28 assault with her husband.
"We haven't quite had that conversation, because any revisiting of it is really traumatizing," she said. "It was hard, and one of the hardest things all week was to go back into the house for him – in the entrance, which is of course where he was hit."
"The doctors had said, you know, we don't want him to watch the news," she continued. "We don't want him to be revisiting a lot of this, at least not now, because it will add to the trauma. And the operation was a success, but it's only one part of the recovery. The dramatic, drastic head injury. It takes some time."
David DePape is charged with six counts relating to the attack, including attempted murder, burglary, assault, false imprisonment and threatening the family member of a public official. He has pleaded not guilty to all state charges.
Federal prosecutors have charged him with attempted kidnapping and assault.
Revisiting the attack also brings a great deal of emotional pain for Nancy Pelosi, herself.
"For me, this is really the hard part because Paul was not the target," she told Cooper. "And he's the one who's paying the price, I mean we all are, but he's the one who's really paying the price. But it really – it's really sad, because it is a flame that was fueled by misinformation and all the rest of that, which is most unfortunate."
DePape confronted Paul Pelosi in a bedroom, asking repeated, 'Where's Nancy? Where's Nancy?' Still groggy from being suddenly awoken, Pelosi responded, 'She's not here.'
When Pelosi asked DePape why he wanted to see his wife, the suspect answered according to court documents:
"'Well, she's number two in line for the presidency, right?'" When Mr. Pelosi agreed, Defendant responded that they are all corrupt and 'we've got to take them all out.'"
San Francisco police said officers responded to the 2600 block of Broadway for a 911 call of a home break-in at approximately 2:27 a.m.
When San Francisco police officers arrived, Pelosi and DePape were wrestling over a hammer.
"When officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mrs. Pelosi's husband, Paul," SFPD Chief Bill Scott told reporters. "Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it."
"Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid," he added.
The assault left Paul Pelosi with severe head and arm injuries.
"(The head injury was) on the top in two places," Nancy Pelosi said of the skull fracture. "And that's pretty awful. That's pretty awful. But the good news was when he came – when he had the operation, and we were blessed by the health care professionals at San Francisco General. They told us it had not pierced his brain, which is what could be deadly or worse."
"What they had to do was they had to take off the skull, reshape it, put it back so it didn't scratch or pierce the brain. It's pretty – it's a pretty serious operation... Always concern, the hematomas, all the rest of that."
Then came a short-lived light moment in the early hours.
"My son Paul told me that when he – see, I got on the plane right away to go, to come to California, but he was now out of the operation," Nancy Pelosi said. "And Paul [Jr.] said, 'Mommy's on her way here,' and Paul said – the first thing he said, 'Oh your mother is going to be very happy, because the Ravens won last night.'"
Nancy Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore.
When asked how her husband was doing, Nancy Pelosi answered:
"He's doing okay. He is – it's a long haul. But he knows he has to pace himself. He's, he's such a gentleman that he's not complaining. But he's also knowing that it's a long haul. He's so concerned about the traumatic effect on our children and our grandchildren. And we're concerned about the traumatic effect on him. "