The man who attacked the husband of Nancy Pelosi in their home last year showed no remorse and continued his dangerous fixation on the former House speaker in a bizarre phone call to a San Francisco reporter on Friday, according to the Bay Area\u00a0station\u2019s reporting.
\nDavid DePape called KTVU\u2019s Amber Lee from the San Francisco County Jail on the same day the attack footage was released, with what he called \u201can important message for everyone in America.\u201d
\nWithout mentioning Pelosi by name, DePape said he had gathered \u201cnames and addresses\u201d of people he believed were \u201csystematically and deliberately\u201d destroying American freedom and liberty and said he wanted to \u201chave a heart-to-heart chat about their bad behavior.\u201d
\nDePape added that he should have been \u201cbetter prepared,\u201d adding that he was sorry that he \u201cdidn\u2019t get more of them.\u201d
\nKTVU said their reporter was not allowed to ask follow-up questions of DePape during the phone conversation, which he allowed to be recorded.
\nThe call came on the same day that a California court released video of the attack, audio of the 911 call and his initial police interview after the arrest in which he echoed right-wing extremist views, including MAGA tropes that underscored how he was influenced by dangerous rhetoric and conspiracies.
\nDePape also told a San Francisco police officer in October that the reason he went to the Pelosis\u2019 San Francisco home was because he believed that the then-speaker was \u201cthe leader of the pack\u201d of all the politicians in Washington, DC, \u201clying on a consistent basis.\u201d
\nIn laying out his reasons for enacting the attack, DePape epitomizes how dangerous unsubstantiated political rhetoric that enters the mainstream has contributed to political violence nationwide.
\nUS Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said\u00a0earlier this month\u00a0that threats against members of Congress is \u201cstill too high\u201d even though threat investigations dropped in 2022 for the first time in five years. Federal law enforcement agencies have\u00a0consistently warned\u2002about the increasing threat of politically motivated violence after rioters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, raising specific concerns about the likelihood that online calls for violence result in real-world attacks.
\nDePape claimed in his October interview that Democrats, led by Pelosi, spied on former President Donald Trump in a way that was worse than Watergate, when then-President Richard Nixon was forced to resign after it was discovered his administration tried to cover up a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
\nWithout evidence, DePape claimed that Democrats were on an \u201cendless f**king crime spree\u201d when it came to Trump.
\n\u201cNot only were they spying on a rival campaign, they were submitting fake evidence to spy on a rival campaign, covering it up, persecuting the rival campaign,\u201d DePape said of what he believed Democrats were doing to Trump.
\nDePape said that these actions originated with Hillary Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran against Trump in 2016, and that all Democrats are \u201ccriminals.\u201d But he zeroed in on Pelosi as the one who \u201cran with the lying.\u201d
\nDePape is facing both state and federal charges related to the attack. He has pleaded not guilty.
\nThe video and audio were released by a court Friday, over the objections of DePape\u2019s attorneys who argued it would \u201cirreparably damage\u201d his right to a fair trial. Media outlets, including CNN, pressed the court to release the information.<\/p>\n