(San Francisco) The man suspected of savagely assaulting the husband of Democratic congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, in the hope of attacking her, has pleaded not guilty before a judge in San Francisco, according to several American media.
Posted at 6:35 p.m.
After a brief appearance in an orange detainee outfit, David DePape was remanded in custody by the magistrate, according to the Californian daily San Francisco Chronicle.
This 42-year-old man has also been banned from all contact with Mme Pelosi or her husband, and come within 135 yards of their San Francisco home, where the assault took place on Friday.
During his attack, the suspect planned to “break the kneecaps” of the parliamentarian if she did not confess the “lies” of the Democratic camp, according to a federal court document.
He entered the couple’s home in San Francisco on Friday morning, equipped in particular with rope, pairs of gloves and adhesive tape, according to the Department of Justice.
Nancy Pelosi was in Washington that day. Before being attacked with a hammer, her husband Paul Pelosi, 82, had time to call the 911 emergency number.
US authorities believe the suspect intended to kidnap the official, a federal charge that could see him up to 20 years in prison. Assaulting her husband faces another prison sentence of up to 30 years.
On Monday night, the San Francisco district attorney announced a flurry of new charges, including attempted murder and burglary, this time at the local, not the federal level. According to her, it was a “politically motivated” attack.
David DePape, who lived in a garage in a small town near San Francisco, had shared posts on social media in recent months claiming the election was stolen or the COVID-19 vaccines didn’t work. According to the daughter of one of his former companions, he had recently turned to far-right conspiracy.
Facing the press, his court-appointed lawyer, Adam Lipson, explained on Tuesday that he wanted to “assess [s]mental health”.
“There’s a lot of speculation about Mr. DePape’s vulnerability to misinformation and that’s definitely something we’ll be looking into,” the board added.
The attack, which occurred about ten days before the midterm elections, during which the Democrats are in great danger of losing their majority in the House of Representatives, has propelled disinformation and its deleterious impacts to the rank of a theme of country.
In a Friday night speech, President Joe Biden warned that misinformation can influence people who are “not fully balanced.”
At the same time, the new boss of Twitter, Elon Musk, relayed – before deleting it – a conspiracy theory which tried to minimize the scope of this attack by suggesting that it was a sexual meeting. which would have slipped.