The suspect accused of attacking Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband Paul with a hammer offered an apology and said “he was never my target.”
“We kinda had a good rapport going,” suspect David DePape testified, according to reporters in the federal courtroom. “He was an amiable gentleman. We had a good rapport going, and I kinda trusted him.”
Defense attorney Angela Chang asked her client why he hit Paul Pelosi. “To get to my other targets,” Mr. DePape said, adding, “I felt really bad for him because we had a good rapport, and Paul was never a target.”
“I reacted because my plan was basically ruined,” he also said.
During the cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Vartain Horn asked Mr. DePape if he knew that going into the Pelosi home could lead to violence. “Wasn’t my intention, but a possibility, yes,” he said in response.
Mr. DePape said he went to the Pelosis’ home to speak to Nancy Pelosi about the 2016 election, and he said he planned to wear an “inflatable unicorn costume” and upload his questioning of her on the Internet, according to reporters.
After he broke into their home, Paul Pelosi called the police before officers arrived. According to police bodycamera footage of the incident, officers asked Mr. DePape to drop a hammer that he was holding with Mr. Pelosi before Mr. DePape pulled away and then appeared to strike the lawmaker’s husband multiple times before he was apprehended.
Mr. DePape said he planned to abduct Nancy Pelosi and use her to lure other targets, including Hunter Biden. Mrs. Pelosi was targeted first because she was a leader of the Democratic Party and he believed her house would be easier to target.
According to court papers, he allegedly told authorities his other targets included the professor, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, actor Tom Hanks, and President Joe Biden’s son.
Also during the trial this week, Mr. Pelosi recounted how he was able to call the authorities while Mr. DePape said he was going to tie him up.
“The door opened and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other and he said, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ And I think that woke me up,” Paul Pelosi said, adding, “I recognized I was in serious danger.”
Mr. DePape faces life in prison if convicted of the federal case where he faces attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. He also faces an attempted murder charge in a separate state case.
Gypsy Taub, who was in a relationship with Mr. DePape and shares two children with him, claimed to the New York Post that she believes Mr. DePape was acting under duress. She claimed that she believes authorities forced him to confess to the attack and said he didn’t seem like himself.
“His testimony lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, but he broke down and cried three or four times,” Ms. Taub, an activist, told the paper. “It was as if he wasn’t even present in the room and sat there, frozen.”
She added: “I already had doubts that his confession to police was false because it was only on audio, but I am glad the jury was able to see him testify and will be able to decide on the authenticity of that confession.”
Other witnesses who testified this week included Daniel Bernal, Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco chief of staff, and Mr. DePape’s neighbor Elizabeth Yates, who said she allowed him to shower at her home once a week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
