Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack charged with federal counts of assault and attempted kidnapping

The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was formally charged Monday with federal counts of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official and attempted kidnapping of a federal official.

Those are the federal charges against David Wayne DePape, who is scheduled to be arranged in court in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon. 

The 42-year-old suspect was booked Friday on charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, elder abuse and several other felony offenses.

According to sources briefed on the assault, the suspect who broke into the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning shouted at Paul Pelosi, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy,” before assaulting him.

Upon responding to the Pelosi house, “San Francisco Police Department recovered zip ties in Pelosi’s bedroom and in the hallway near the front door of the Pelosi residence,” the federal criminal complaint says. “In addition, law enforcement searched DEPAPE’s backpack at the Pelosi residence, and they found, among other things, a roll of tape, white rope, one hammer, one pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and a journal.” 

“Pelosi stated he had never seen DEPAPE before,” the federal criminal complaint also says. “Pelosi was asleep when DEPAPE came into Pelosi’s bedroom and stated he wanted to talk to ‘Nancy.'”

According to court documents, DePape told San Francisco police after his arrest that, “If Nancy [Pelosi] were to tell DEPAPE the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps'” so that she would have to be wheeled into Congress. 

The suspect’s motives remain unclear. But DePape had a list of people he wanted to target, law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation have told CBS News. The sources said he may have been planning to attack more people, had he not been arrested after assaulting Pelosi. 

Last week, Paul Pelosi underwent what the speaker’s office described as a “successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.” The speaker’s office has not given additional formal updates on Mr. Pelosi this week. 

The speaker altered her schedule over the weekend, days ahead of the critical midterm elections, in light of the assault on her husband. 

— Rob Legare, Jeff Pegues and Gina Martinez contributed to this report