Pelosi Attack Reignites Concerns Over Lawmakers’ Safety

Capitol Police have made changes to respond to threats over the past year, but the tide keeps rising.

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FBI agents take measurements around Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi's home after her husband, Paul, was assaulted there. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Last week’s home invasion and attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband intensified an issue at the top of mind for members of Congress: how to boost security for lawmakers and their families.

Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband, Paul, is expected to recover from the attack. The speaker was in Washington, D.C., on the night David DePape allegedly broke into her San Francisco home, asking where she was. (Read yesterday’s Morning Dispatch for more details on the break-in and DePape’s apparent espousal of numerous right-wing conspiracy theories.)

A Justice Department criminal complaint against DePape released Monday afternoon indicates the attack was politically motivated:

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.” In the course of the interview, DEPAPE articulated he viewed Nancy as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party. DEPAPE also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Matthewcgarvin

    From the criminal complaint: "DEPAPE explained that he did not leave after Pelosi’s call to 9-1-1 because, much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender. DEPAPE reiterated this sentiment elsewhere in the interview."

    The way folks can fool themselves into the delusion that the tyranny they experience is of that level is pretty crazy.

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    Alli Isaacson

    It’s hard to imagine why anyone would put themselves through the risk of being an elected official in the current environment. From POTUS down to local officials like school board members.
    Threats of violence should be unequivocally rejected by our political leaders, but too often they are not. They just have to leave room for their political posturing. It’s disgusting.

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    BloggerBarbie

    All of the raised security, fine. But what are we going to do about this psychotogenic culture that's producing these stupid conspiracy theories in the first place? I'm so EXHAUSTED with them, and with the people who spout them. USE YOUR GOD-GIVEN BRAINS, YOU IDIOTS. Why are you trashing your own country on the basis of self-evidently ridiculous ideas? And why have we not done a damned thing about the conditions that are proving fertile ground for this insane BS?

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  4. Joseph Stevens

    Good luck filling those and newer funded positions. The pay is low for capital police compared to the high cost of living in the DC and surrounding area. Not to mention little career advancement compared to other federal jobs.

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    Aylene Wright

    It occurs to me that some of the "this doesn't make sense, how could this loon even manage to break in only armed with a hammer, there must be something else to the story" response to the attack on Pelosi, was predicated on an assumption that all elected officials must have the same multilayered security forces and sophisticated security systems as the POTUS does.

    Even people who didn't go as far as embracing ridiculous conspiracy theories to explain this,.pivoted to "the Pelosis were obviously being negligent by not installing a high tech security system".

    I also recall a similar reaction to the pro-choice protests at the private residences of SCOTUS justice. An assumption that they obviously already must have both heavy private security measures and around the clock police protection already, and therefore the protesters were obviously no threat.

    In this context, perhaps even some of the death threats are performative ones by people who would never actually follow through, as they assume that if they did they would quickly be shot down by Capitol police. The 1/6 apologists often say "sure that was a terrible day but these yahoos were never a real threat to Pelosi or Pence, they would have been gunned down immediate if they got near", etc.

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  6. Joe

    "DEPAPE was certain that Nancy would not have told the “truth.” In the course of the interview, DEPAPE articulated he viewed Nancy as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party. DEPAPE also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions."

    Sounds like an interview with a conservative news outlet. Lies, leader of the pack, violence to make sure others know there will be consequences to actions.

    Republicans will publicly denounce the violence and then support the conservative outlets and acolytes that foment the hate and vitriol. As long as you publicly denounce the act, private support is understandable and okay. I learned that from Jonah Goldberg. https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfile/hypocrisy-and-the-real-world/

    Thank you to Haley Byrd Wilt for an objective article that did not include dog whistles and false equivalences. I wish all TD articles were written to this standard.

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    1. Caitlin Svoboda-Spear

      Really?

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        JohnM.

        No. Just more generalizations and exaggerations. The word 'conservative' carries a lot of weight in that comment. Like this one: "Sounds like an interview with a conservative news outlet."
        Like National Review or The Dispatch? They are both conservative news outlets.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Aestagge

    What about Rand Paul?

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    1. Avatar photo
      Devin H

      Not minimizing that, but wasn't that his neighbor and unrelated to politics? Still terrible, but not quite in the same category as targeted, political assaults

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      1. Avatar photo
        Aestagge

        Ok, make sense. Maybe it wasn't, but I thought I read it was politically motivated.

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        1. Andrw4488

          There have been too many attacks on congress members going back before Gabby Giffords and the Steve Scalise shooting. Lee Zeldin was rushed while on stage not long ago
          I still think anyone who would actually attack or attempt to attack a congressman probably is mentally disturbed. I'm waiting to hear more on Pelosi's attacker who i will join other posters in not naming. I do think additional security members should be taken for all higher level US congress members. There are too man violent, unbalanced people walking around. Whatever I think of congress (and it's not positive) I don't want members violently attacked.

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