'I've tried to put it out of my mind,' Paul Pelosi recalls home invasion and assault in court testimony

Seeking Nancy Pelosi, 'The door opened and a very large man came in with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other,' he told jurors. 'I’m asleep and he bursts in the door, and that woke me up.'

'I've tried to put it out of my mind,' Paul Pelosi recalls home invasion and assault in court testimony
AP Photo/Noah Berger
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Paul Pelosi, spouse of the ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, recounted to jurors on Monday the events of the evening when he was assaulted in his home. He described awakening in a pool of blood after an intruder, armed with a hammer and zip ties, forcefully entered his house seeking his wife.

"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?'" he told jurors. "I’m asleep and he bursts in the door, and that woke me up."

David DePape, a citizen of Canada, faces charges of assaulting a family member of a federal official and attempting to kidnap a federal official. A conviction could lead to a life sentence. DePape has entered a not guilty plea.

During his testimony, Pelosi mentioned that he hadn't activated his house alarm before sleeping and didn't initially hear DePape's intrusion. However, upon seeing DePape, he realized he was in grave danger, the Washington Examiner reports.

"He was standing in the doorway, and I assume he was 3, 4 feet away from me," Pelosi said. "It was a tremendous sense of shock to see somebody had broken into the house."

"The first thing I tried to do was get up and try to get to the elevator because if I can get to the elevator, there's a phone in the elevator, and I could close the door so he couldn't get to me," he said, adding, "I walked toward the door, but he blocked me."

Pelosi shared in his testimony that when he informed DePape his wife was in Washington, D.C., DePape responded by saying he would need to tie him up and wait for Nancy to return. He further testified that DePape mentioned the former speaker as "the leader of the pack" and expressed his intention to "take her out."

Pelosi recounted how DePape threatened his life.

"It's over for me," Pelosi recalled DePape telling him. "I'm going to have to take you out."

Pelosi managed to persuade DePape to exit the bedroom and move downstairs, suggesting, “Since all your stuff is downstairs, why don’t we go downstairs? You can tie me up and you can get some sleep.”

Upon the arrival of law enforcement, they witnessed both individuals gripping a five-pound steel hammer. Both were instructed to release the hammer, yet DePape managed to overpower Pelosi for control of it and subsequently struck him repeatedly on the head. DePape was promptly detained following the incident, and Pelosi, having sustained severe injuries, was rushed to the emergency room.

Pelosi informed the jury that apart from speaking with investigators, he had not discussed the incident of the attack with anyone else.
"I've tried to put it out of my mind," he said. "I made the best effort I possibly can to not relive this."

Earlier Monday, the prosecution brought forward law enforcement witnesses, including an FBI agent and Capitol Police officers, to discuss video evidence in DePape's trial. DePape's lawyer, Jodi Linker, argued in opening statements that DePape targeted the Pelosi home not because of Nancy Pelosi's role in Congress, but due to his belief in an obligation to stop a more larger and devious plan to corrupt the nation.

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