After the brutal attack on the husband of US leader Nancy Pelosi, the federal judiciary charged the attacker with assault and attempted kidnapping. The federal prosecutor responsible for San Francisco charged the arrested 42-year-old on Monday with attacking 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer during a nighttime burglary last week. He also planned to kidnap Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
The attacker had cable ties, rope and tape with him, said the US Department of Justice. According to investigators, the man said after his arrest that he had taken Nancy Pelosi hostage and wanted to talk to her. Should the Speaker of the US House of Representatives tell the “truth,” he would let her go; should she “lie”, which he assumes, he would smash her kneecaps.
The indictment documents do not state which “truth” is at issue. The arrested man, according to media reports a supporter of conspiracy theories, said during interrogation that the Democratic Party was spreading lies.
The 42-year-old is now charged with attacking a close relative of an official US representative, which can be punished with up to 30 years in prison. The second count of attempted kidnapping of a US representative is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, according to the US Department of Justice. In addition to the federal judiciary, the local judiciary can also bring charges against the man.
The attacker broke into the Pelosi couple’s home in San Francisco last Friday night. He was targeting Nancy Pelosi, who was in the US capital Washington at the time of the attack. The 42-year-old hit Paul Pelosi with a hammer when police officers arrived, causing him a fractured skull, among other things.
The attack, a week and a half before the November 8 midterm elections, caused shocked reactions. However, numerous conspiracy theories were spread, according to which the incident could have played out differently than stated by the authorities. Even the new Twitter owner Elon Musk spread such a conspiracy theory before deleting the corresponding tweet.
Nancy Pelosi, whose constituency is in San Francisco, is one of the most powerful politicians in the United States. The 82-year-old has been Chair of the House of Representatives for the second time since 2019, making her number three in the state after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. In right-wing circles, she has been hostile to for a long time.
In view of the heated political mood in the USA, observers fear violence around the congressional elections known as the midterms.
