The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California home and assaulting her husband brought zip-ties to the encounter, according to a report from Axios.
David DePape, 42, was found inside Pelosi’s home struggling with Paul Pelosi over a hammer at 2 a.m. on Friday. He reportedly called out for Nancy when first entering the home and then attempted to tie up Paul using a bag of zip-ties he brought, an unnamed source briefed on the incident told Axios.
DePape, a conspiracy theorist who frequently posted online, has been ‘mentally ill for a long time,’ according to his purported ex-life partner, Oxane Taub.
Taub, herself a jailed nudist activist convicted on child abduction charges, claimed in an interview with ABC7 to have raised two sons with DePape, along with her daughter from a previous relationship.
‘He is mentally ill. He has been mentally ill for a long time,’ she told the outlet, adding that she had split with him roughly seven years ago.
Taub went on to detail one incident when DePape reportedly came home after disappearing for almost a year out of the blue.
‘He came back in very bad shape. He thought he was Jesus. He was constantly paranoid, thinking people were after him. And it took a good year or two to get back to, you know, being halfway normal,’ Taub said.
Paul was rushed to the hospital for surgery for a fractured skull after the incident. Police say he was struck at least once with the hammer, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott says DePape faces charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and other felonies following the incident.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre compared the incident to the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol during an MSNBC appearance on Sunday, attributing the attack to Republican rhetoric.
‘The thing that is probably the most haunting about when we hear the reports of this assailant, of the attacker that you were speaking of, is that he was yelling out the things that we heard during January 6, which is, ‘Where is Nancy?’’ Jean-Pierre said. ‘And you know, again, we need to end this type of rhetoric. It needs to stop, and it is incredibly, incredibly dangerous.’