In a recent interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the attack on her husband will impact future retirement plans. In the early morning hours of Oct. 28, Paul Pelosi was attacked by a man with a hammer at their San Francisco residence. Allegedly, the suspect, who police identify as David DePape, forced his way into the house and rushed upstairs, saying, “where is Nancy?” After that, Pelosi made a 911 phone call in the bathroom unbeknownst to his attacker.
There might be bodycam footage, but police bodycam footage of Paul Pelosi’s incident will not be released.
In the interview, Cooper asked Pelosi: “Will your decision be impacted by the attack in any way?” “Yes,” Pelosi answered. “It will?” Cooper asked again. “Yes,” Pelosi repeated.
Allegedly, Nancy Pelosi was the target of DePape’s attack, and she reflected on her emotional reaction to the news. “For me, this is really the hard part because Paul was not the target and he’s the one who is paying the price,” said Pelosi. “He was not looking for Paul, he was looking for me,” she added.
New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries has emerged as a favorite to replace Pelosi as party leader in Congress, as Pelosi’s retirement looms. Jeffries would become the first black leader of the party in the House were he to take the position. He is currently the number 5 Democrat in the House.
In the interview, Nancy Pelosi also talked about how she got the news that her husband was attacked. She told Cooper that she was “very scared” when there was a knock on the door from Capitol Police. She had been asleep in Washington, DC, after getting in the night before from San Francisco when her doorbell rang early in the morning, Pelosi said. “I look up, I see it’s 5 [a.m. ET], they must be at the wrong apartment,” she told Cooper.
She then went on to say that the doorbell rang again and then she heard “bang, bang, bang, bang, bang on the door.” “So I run to the door, and I’m very scared,” Pelosi described. “I see the Capitol Police and they say, ‘We have to come in to talk to you,’” she added.
Her thoughts went immediately to her children and her grandchildren, she said. “And I’m thinking my children, my grandchildren. I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn’t be out and about, shall we say. And so they came in. At that time, we didn’t even know where he was,” said Pelosi.