Last Updated on October 28, 2022
David DePape, the man who allegedly attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband Paul in the couple’s home is a nudist activist and “hemp jewelry” manufacturer. Prominent left-wing politicians, including President Biden, portrayed David DePape, 42, as a right-wing, Q-anon enthusiast due to a series of recent blog posts in which he railed against things conservatives generally dislike. The blogs have since been deleted.
“Sources familiar with the investigation” told the Associated Press that the attacker left behind a manifesto that contained “anti-government messages.” Others have pointed out that DePape’s background does not fit the mold of a conservative.
According to a 2013 report from the San Francisco Chronicle, DePape participated in a wedding with nudist activist Gypsy Taub. He was the best man at the wedding, which received local media coverage as part of Taub’s “yearlong assault on the public nudity ban” in the city. The article described David DePape as a “hemp jewelry maker.”
State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) recalled DePape’s name from a series of pro-nudity demonstrations from 2012-13. Wiener told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had just attended an event with Paul Pelosi last week and was “heartbroken” by the assault. He went on to frame the assault as an act of right-wing domestic terrorism.
Wiener, served as a city supervisor in San Francisco’s Castro section at the time, told the outlet that DePape participated in pro-public nudity demonstrations on the streets in 2011 and 2012.
Ahhh, I knew that David DePape name sounded familiar. He was featured in a People Behaving Badly Segment many years ago. Who remembers the naked wedding outside @sfgov City Hall? That’s me in the blue coat.
pic.twitter.com/GbvBQ3qHcw
— Stanley Roberts (@StanleyRoberts) October 28, 2022
Within hours of the attack, CNN had spoken with a number of DePape’s associates who described him as unhinged. Linda Schneider, who occasionally let DePape housesit roughly eight years ago, told CNN that he was living in a storage unit when they met. Schneider eventually ceased contact with DePape after she received “really disturbing” emails where he sounded like “a megalomaniac and so out of touch with reality.”
The alleged attacker has also reportedly made a number of social media posts over the last two years in which he espoused views typically held by conservatives. On a now deleted WordPress blog, Depape ranted about censorship by the “elites” and “ruling class.” He also appears to have a website that references “da Jews.”
His last post, titled ““Why Colleges are becoming Cults,” was posted hours before the attack. He has also made recent references to Trump and Kanye West. “I guess this is as good a time as any. Trump you NEEEEEEEED to make Tulsi your VP in 2024. Of the ENTIRE democrat presidential candidates in 2020. She was th only democrat candidate who WASN’T running on a platform of being an insane mentally unwell demagogue…Having Tulsy as your vp bridges the insane partisan divide,” reads one of his recent posts.
President Biden, along with additional leftist leaders and media outlets, have framed the attack as an act of right-wing terrorism and called for action. “This is despicable,” Biden said in reference to the attack while speaking at a fundraiser in Philadelphia.
“There’s too much violence — political violence — too much hatred, too much vitriole,” Biden said. “What makes us think that one party can talk about stolen elections, COVID being a hoax, [that] it’s all a bunch of lies, and it not affect people who may not be so well-balanced? What makes us think it’s not going to corrode the political climate?”
“Enough is enough is enough. Every person of good conscience needs to clearly and unambiguously stand up against the violence in our politics, regardless of what your politics are.”
"This is despicable," President Biden said when addressing the home invasion assault on Paul Pelosi. https://t.co/lM2jPmGfmd pic.twitter.com/31B3q24LG0
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) October 29, 2022
Paul Pelosi, 82, described David DePape as a “friend” when calling in the disturbance himself.
Officers soon responded to find both men fighting over a hammer, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott. When officers commanded DePape to let go of the hammer, he reportedly gained control of it before striking Pelosi at least one time in the head.
Pelosi was transported to a local hospital after the attack and is expected to make a full recovery.