Paul Pelosi’s hammer-wielding attacker apologized for not inflicting more damage before his arrest in chilling remarks after video footage of the assault was released.
David DePape told San Francisco’s KTVU that he “should have come better prepared” when he entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home in October of last year.
“I want to apologize to everyone,” he told KTVU reporter Amber Lee on Friday. “I messed up. What I did was really bad. I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them. It’s my own fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared.”
Mr. DePape said during the interview that “freedom and liberty are being killed systematically and deliberately.”
He said the “people killing it have names and addresses, so I got their names and addresses so I could pay them a little visit, have a heart to heart chat about their bad behavior.”
Mr. DePape spoke with the outlet after the San Francisco Superior Court publically released surveillance camera and police body camera footage of the alleged attack on Mr. Pelosi, 82.
Mr. DePape, 42, has been charged with attempted murder and several other charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Court documents said Mr. DePape broke into the San Francisco home around 2 a.m. Oct. 28 and found Mr. Pelosi, 82, in the bedroom.
The attacker demanded to know where Mrs. Pelosi was and Mr. Pelosi said she wasn’t in town and wouldn’t be back for days.
Mr. DePape said he would wait, though Mr. Pelosi was able to excuse himself to the bathroom and call 911.
Among other things, police found Mr. DePape possessed zip ties, a roll of tape, a white rope, a hammer, gloves and a journal.
Mr. DePape told officers he wanted to hold Mrs. Pelosi hostage and if she told “the truth,” he would let her go, and if she “lied,” he would “break her kneecaps.”
Mr. Pelosi told police he’d never seen Mr. DePape before.
Mr. Pelosi required surgery for a skull fracture. He attended a Kennedy Center event with his wife in December.
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, was in Washington during the attack. She said she will not watch the video.
“I have absolutely no intention of seeing the deadly assault on my husband’s life,” she said. “I won’t be making any more statements about this case as it proceeds except to, again, thank people and inform them of Paul’s progress.”
-Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this story.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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