Well, for all the right wingnuts spreading conspiracy theories about the attack on Paul Pelosi… we have bad news for y’all. It’s pretty much what all the reasonable folks assumed it was — a deranged political statement made with violence.
We’ll get to the debunked theories — and who is pushing them — later. For now, the facts…
David Wayne DePape, the man who broke into the Nancy Pelosi‘s San Francisco home and beat her 82-year-old husband with a hammer, has now officially been charged at the federal level. The crimes? Assault of an immediate family member of a US official with the intent to retaliate against the official AND attempted kidnapping of a US official. Yeah. And if that didn’t tell the story, the FBI affidavit has revealed some stunning new details.
Related: Nancy Says She Was ‘Traumatized’ After Husband’s Attack In New Statement
The 42-year-old confirmed the meaning of his “Where is Nancy?” comment, confessing to San Francisco Police Department officers that he was, in fact, intending to target the Speaker of the House with the attack. He was planning to abduct and torture her. As the FBI agent reports in the document:
“DePape was prepared to detain and injure Speaker Pelosi when he entered the Pelosi residence in the early morning of October 28, 2022. DePape had zip ties, tape, rope, and at least one hammer with him that morning.”
He had the whole thing planned out, too:
“DePape stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps.’ DePape was certain that Nancy would not have told the ‘truth.'”
According to the affidavit, DePape told the interviewing officers on Friday he “viewed Nancy as the ‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party” — and her broken kneecaps would serve as a warning to other Democrats when she “would have to be wheeled into” Congress.
Even scarier, DePape also told police he aimed even higher — “he wanted to use Nancy to lure another individual.” That person was not named, but it’s not hard to guess.
This wasn’t just the ordinary, rational notion that politicians are mostly lying and self-serving. Everyone in the world thinks that, heck, plenty of Democrats think it about Nancy Pelosi — they aren’t invading homes and trying to kidnap people. This is a more targeted idea that Democrats specifically are all lying about something. Something big. Where could DePape possibly have gotten that idea? We’ll give you a hint: it starts with “Q”. OK, yeah, that’s the whole answer. QAnon. The right wing conspiracy theory website that claims Democrats and Hollywood are all part of a giant cabal of cannibal satan worshippers and Donald Trump is secretly fighting against it. The LA Times reported over the weekend that DePape had spread QAnon and other right wing conspiracy theories. This crime seems to have been another case of a man driven to horrific violence by the site, which has multiple supporters even among elected Republican officials.
Instead of accepting the obvious, however, right wing conspiracy theorists are in defensive mode, doing what they do — making up bulls**t. The theory they’ve been propagating for this one? It wasn’t a political attack at all, it was actually Paul Pelosi’s “gay lover,” and they were having a fight. Sigh…
Never mind that Pelosi is the one who was able to call the cops, telling them he didn’t know the man. In the unsealed affidavit it was revealed:
“Pelosi stated words to the effect of there is a male in the home and that the male is going to wait for Pelosi’s wife. Pelosi further conveyed that he does not know who the male is. The male said his name is David.”
Paul was apparently able to keep the phone call going while speaking to the intruder — giving police even more information.
Related: QAnon Dad’s SHOCKING Jailhouse Admission: ‘I Was Deceiving Myself’
Also forget that the attacker has since CONFESSED TO POLICE. Sure, that’s just a lie, too, right? He’s part of the conspiracy theory? It’s a false flag? Just delete everything that doesn’t fit the narrative, right? Sigh…
One such bad actor spreading the filth? None other than the new person in charge of Twitter. See, Hillary Clinton tweeted out a link to the LA Times article:
The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow.https://t.co/MQor4NDFeE
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 29, 2022
And Elon Musk responded by sharing his own link — a since-removed article from the Santa Monica Observer pushing a conspiracy theory. Musk wrote:
“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.”
So if you were hopeful there would still be any attempt to stop the spread of misinformation on Elon’s Twitter, sorry but #RIP to that hope. After the link went dead, Elon did delete his tweet. (But of course there’s photo evidence, it’s the internet.)
This exchange between @HillaryClinton and @elonmusk should kill any remaining confidence advertisers had in the platform. pic.twitter.com/JYhkm17Osp
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) October 30, 2022
Oof.
As much as these conspiracy theories continue to spread, the truth isn’t going anywhere. Those inspired to violence are facing very real consequences, and DePape is no different. The federal charges against him hold maximum prison sentences of 50 years in total.
One more time for everyone in the back. This man tried to kidnap the Speaker of the House. Let’s keep that in mind for a moment. He didn’t post something angry online, he didn’t call in to radio show and give them a piece of his mind, he didn’t rant about it to his family. He confessed to police that he planned to maim an 82-year-old Congresswoman as a message to other Democrats. Right-wingers are going to try to paint it a million different ways because the truth is so disgusting. But in the end, none of these pundits are going to put any of this crap before a judge as he faces those federal charges.
Here, in the real world, this man committed a horrible crime, and he’s going to go to prison for it.
If you know someone who is getting sucked into these conspiracy theories, please, please, find a way to get them help.
[Image via MEGA/WENN.]
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