Paul Pelosi (L) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attend the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 28, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images
Police body camera footage of last year’s vicious hammer attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their San Francisco home was made public on Friday.
The video, first obtained by NBC News affiliate KNTV, shows police approaching Pelosi’s home, then the door opens with Pelosi standing next to the suspect in the case, David DePape. Both of them were holding hammers.
The evidence was released after a coalition of news organizations, including NBC News, made a motion to the judge presiding over the case against Paul Pelosi’s alleged attacker, David DePape, saying it should be made public.
Prosecutors from the San Francisco district attorney’s office refused to release the evidence to the media, telling the judge they were concerned the video footage could be publicly manipulated to spread false information.
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy sided with a group of 13 news organizations, which insisted court records should be made public and released would help fight disinformation about the case. The judge noted Wednesday when he issued his ruling that the evidence — which also included Pelosi’s 911 calls — was played in open court at a hearing earlier last month.
In the state case, DePape, 42, is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening a public official for the Oct. 28 attack on Pelosi, 82.
He also faces two federal charges stemming from the attack — attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to retaliate against a federal official by threatening or harming a family member.
DePape has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
In court filings, state prosecutors said they told officers at the scene the real target was Nancy Pelosi, who was not home at the time.
“I’m sick of crazy f—— lies out of Washington, DC. I came here to talk a little with his wife,” DePape said, according to the filing.
“I don’t want to hurt him, but you know this is a suicidal mission. I’m not going to stand here and do nothing even if it costs me my life,” he said.
The federal complaint says DePape told police he was “going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her.”
“If Nancy tells DePape the ‘truth,’ she will let him go, and if he ‘lies,’ she will destroy his ‘environment,'” the complaint states.
Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his arm and hand in the attack.
Nancy Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol Thursday that she wasn’t sure if she would watch the video. “I mean, it’s going to be really hard to see an attack on my wife’s life,” he said.