The Los Angeles Times meticulously debunked the conspiracy theories circulated by MAGA-nuts about the attack on Paul Pelosi in the family home in San Francisco.
Extremists spun a tale in which Paul Pelosi met his attacker in a gay bar, came home drunk, and quarreled with a male prostitute. The perpetrator was not a rightwing extremist, they said, but a follower of Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
The L.A. Times patiently explains that none of these claims are factual.
The Break-in:
DePape told officers in a recorded interview last week that he broke through a glass door in the home using a hammer, according to the criminal complaint. He said Paul Pelosi was in bed at the time and “appeared surprised” by him. DePape allegedly told Paul Pelosi to wake up and that he was “looking for Nancy,” to which Paul Pelosi responded that she wasn’t there.
Police body cameras showed that a glass door in the back of the house was broken.
Paul Pelosi called 911 and said there was an intruder in the house, and the man was waiting for Nancy Pelosi.
DePape told police in a separate interview that once he was inside the home, he wanted to tie up Paul Pelosi so he could sleep because he was “tired from having had to carry a backpack.” DePape allegedly took out zip ties from his pocket so he could restrain Paul Pelosi, but Pelosi moved to another part of the house. DePape allegedly stopped him and they went back into the bedroom.
Paul Pelosi went into the bathroom while they were talking and called 911 on his phone, DePape told police. DePape said he “felt like Pelosi’s actions compelled him to respond” and that there was “no way the police were going to forget about the call.” DePape said he stayed after the 911 call because “like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender.”
When police arrived within minutes, they encountered the two men struggling over a hammer.
DePape allegedly pulled the hammer from Paul Pelosi and swung it, hitting him in the head, authorities said. Police restrained DePape; Paul Pelosi appeared to be unconscious.
What was the attacker’s motivations?
DePape allegedly revealed in an interview with police that he “was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her,” according to complaint. He would “let her go” if she told the “truth” but if she “lied,” he would break “her kneecaps.” DePape told authorities that he saw Nancy as the “leader of the pack of lies told by the Democratic Party” and that by breaking her kneecaps, she would have to be wheeled into Congress.
Conspiracy theorists assert that Pelosi and his attacker knew one another, and that when the police arrived, the attacker was wearing only his undershorts.
On Sunday night, former President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., retweeted an image of men’s underwear and a hammer, a nod to the unfounded conspiracy.
In their investigation, however, police interviewed a witness who was working as a private security guard at a nearby address, and said that they saw someone in “all black, carrying a large black bag on his back” walking towards the Pelosis’ home. The witness also said they heard banging on the door or the car and then sirens a minute or two later.
On Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested in a tweet the attacker knew Pelosi, calling him, “Paul Pelosi’s friend.”
But the indictment directly contradicts several portions of this conspiracy theory.
Paul Pelosi told police while he was being transported to the San Francisco General Hospital that he had never seen DePape before that night and he was asleep when DePape broke into his bedroom, according to the complaint. He also told the dispatcher during the 911 call that he didn’t know the identity of the man who broke into his home, but that the man said his name is David.
DePape also confirmed Pelosi’s account, telling them he broke through a glass door to get access to the house.
Right wingers claim that DePape was actually tied to left wing groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa, but the reality is that he has posted racist, anti-Semitic, QAnon rants.
DePape is unhinged, like the guy who brought an assault weapon to a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C., believing that Hillary Clinton was a pedophile and had hidden children in the basement. Pure QAnon. Loony Tunes.
But most Republicans believe that Trump won the election in 2020, ignoring the fact that Biden decisively won the electoral college and had seven million votes more than Trump. They believe this even though Trump’s Attorney General told him he lost, as did his White House Counsel.
Where did all these people come from who trash democracy and scoff at free and fair elections?
”The L.A. Times patiently explains…”
Is it possible for a newspaper to have the patience of a saint?😇
Not the one mentioned for sure
The internet and right wing media spawned a whole cottage industry of lies and misinformation in a society that promotes access to free speech. Prior to hate groups on the internet, the GOP had been working to undermine the credibility of the federal government at least since the Reagan administration. Unhinged people have easy access to people that reinforce conspiracy theories and lies, and they can easily find kindred folks in these hate groups.
The difference between undermining attempts during the Reagan era & today is reach, literally to a world-changing extent. In the 80s, a newsletter (today’s “blog”) promoting these statements & theories would have been a manually-photocopied sheet distributed by mail to a list of around 35-200 people, & that would have been about as far as it got. Today those same people, or their ideological heirs, reach millions with less effort than it took to stuff envelopes.
On the bright side, so do people like Diane!
You’re right retired teacher. Thank you.
The demonization of Nancy Pelosi (and Hillary Clinton) is off the charts toxic and lethal. Nancy Pelosi is portrayed as a scheming devil incarnate by the right wingers and assorted Trumpists. The right wing reactions, smears, so-called “jokes,” to the attack on Paul Pelosi are chilling and appalling. These far righties are miserable people for fabricating total lies about this vicious assault by DePape (it’s reported he overstayed his visa).
Charlie Kirk, a dependably vile far right slime came up with the following idea, quote:
“And why is he still in jail? Why has he not been bailed out? And by the way, if some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out … bail him out, and then go ask him some questions.” end quote
Diane you call this a conspiracy of the right but don’t even suggest any individuals planning anything on the right. You likewise simply eliminate the Paul pelosi statement that David is a friend from his quote. YOU found it convenient to simply eliminate a fact from your argument. Have you no respect for readers?
You imply that Marj T Green misquoted P Pelosi when actually the dispatcher recording (in public domain) indicates clearly that YOU are the one misquoting him.
You didn’t give the full quote. Paul Pelosi was stressed out, terrorized, panic stricken and made some confusing comments but DePape was no friend.
From the 911 transcript via TMZ: The operator heard Paul in distress and quickly called police dispatch with an emergency message … “He states there is a male in the home and that he is going to wait for his wife. He stated that he doesn’t know who the male is but that his name is David and that he is a friend. He sounded somewhat confused.” end quote
Did you get the part that……He DOESN’T KNOW WHO THE MALE IS!!!! How the heck could he be a friend if he didn’t even know the maniac. Pelosi misspoke about Depape being a friend because he was under attack.
I wish the trolls would get their stories straight, some of them are saying that DePape is a lefty AntiFa BLM activist, also a big lie.
This article shows a picture of a broken window with the shattered glass clearly on the outside: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/nancy-pelosis-husband-violently-assaulted-at-their-san-francisco-home/ If DePape broke in, why wouldn’t the glass be on the inside?
Also, Pelosi is the third in line for the presidency and she lives in a very exclusive neighborhood. You mean to tell me that this neighborhood in general and her house in particular don’t have security adequate to prevent a break-in like this? No motion-sensing lights/alarms? No security cameras? No private security? Where were the Capitol Police?
Also, the police reported that an unknown person opened the door when they arrived. Who was that person?
I don’t subscribe to the gay bar/male prostitute/underwear/etc. conspiracy theories, but there are holes in the official story and things that don’t add up and I think the public is owed some explanations. I don’t understand why anyone would oppose a further investigation. Why is seeking truth “right wing”?
When you don’t accept what the police and the FBI reported, you start acting like the QAnon fringe
Glass probably shattered all over the place, inside and outside of the house.
Federal protection moves with Nancy Pelosi. Congressional members’ families are not protected. It is a sad day when we have to consider protecting the families of public servants because of an increasingly vicious right wing lunatic fringe. God help us if these “patriots” continue to be given free rein.
“Where did all these people come from who trash democracy and scoff at free and fair elections?”
EX President D. Trump
Jim Jones-like loyalists to the EX President
Silent Elected legislators, governors, and AGs and candidates for those jobs who refuse to speak, refuse to denounce politically charged violence and rhetoric, refuse to admit the truth (election) publicly, and refuse.
Legitimate media who do not hound these silent and/or lie-supporting officials and make them actually answer questions.
Social media obsession and a need to belong to something
People who feel like the everyone else gets attention and “handouts” and no one listens to or cares about them and now they’ve got people they can elect who feel their pain and spew about it (go back to #1)
It doesn’t matter what the LA Times or any other reliable, traditional news media site publishes as long as most if not all of the MAGA RINOs refuse to fact check from any site except for FOX (or a similar crap site), that supports RasPutin and Trump with a constant flow of lying, misleading propaganda.
The Trumpers I know watch only one cable station: Fox. The network is a menace to society.
Denying that this person, like Czolgosz, the man who assassinated McKinley, was anything but a product of a turbulence in society is a good way to change the conversation.
Back in McKinley’s day, anacharist sentiment suggested the evil caused by the union of powerful business interests and the political leaders who did their bidding. Much of their rhetoric suggested killing leadership. When Czolgosz killed McKinley, it was because he was a wannabe anarchist of the deed. He wanted to show the big guys in his corner that he was a big boy. The right wing, then dominant in the country, went berserk, deporting hundreds of people suspected of being Anarchists. A good two decades later, the Palmer Raids did this again.
There is little doubt that this person was a nut job influenced by the other nut jobs. What is in question is whether Republicans who know the truth will stand up for it. I am not holding my breath.