Paul Pelosi’s alleged attacker indicted by federal grand jury

By Holmes Lybrand and Sonnet Swire, CNN

A grand jury has returned a federal indictment charging David DePape, the man accused of violently attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in late October, with attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official.

“If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the assault count and 20 years in prison for the attempted kidnapping count,” the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday.

With the indictment, DePape is facing both federal and state charges, which include “attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, as well as threats to a public official and their family,” according to San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins.

DePape has already pleaded not guilty to all state charges during his initial appearance in San Francisco court, and he waived his right to a hearing within 10 days at his arraignment. He waived his appearance in court last week, where a status hearing was set for November 28 and a preliminary hearing was set for December 14.

Depape is currently being held without bail.

Jenkins has said that based on DePape’s statements, it appears the attack was “politically motivated.”

“Yes, it appears as though this was, based on his statements and comments that were made in that house during his encounter with Mr. Pelosi, that this was politically motivated,” she said.

The speaker’s husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer at the couple’s home in San Francisco, and disturbing details have emerged about the incident, including that the alleged assailant told police he was on a “suicide mission” and had a list of other prominent targets.

DePape, according to court documents, told police he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, calling her the “leader of the pack of lies” promoted by the Democrats.

Following the attack, Paul Pelosi had surgery “to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi, said in an earlier statement.

He has since been released from the hospital.

“Paul remains under doctors’ care as he continues to progress on a long recovery process and convalescence,” Nancy Pelosi said after her husband’s hospital discharge. “He is now home surrounded by his family who request privacy.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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