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Nancy Pelosi subpoenaed to testify over hammer attack on her husband

David DePape’s trial is set to begin this month

Michelle Del Rey
Thursday 02 November 2023 20:49 GMT
Paul Pelosi attack shown in newly released police bodycam footage

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been subpoenaed to testify in a criminal trial related to the man accused of breaking into her California home and attacking her husband Paul with a hammer in October 2022, she told the House of Representatives.

“This is to notify you formally pursuant to Rule Eight of the rules of the House of Representatives, that I, the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita, and US Representative for the 11th Congressional District of California, have been served with third-party subpoenas from the prosecution and the defendant to produce documents in a criminal case and United States District Court for the Northern District of California,” the House Clerk read on Wednesday during proceedings.

The statement continued: “After consultation with the Office of General Counsel, I have determined that compliance with the subpoenas is consistent with the privileges of the House to the extent it requires the production of non-privileged information.

“The responses to the subpoenas will be identical,” the statement concluded.

Members of the House typically relay statements to the House Clerk when they’re subpoenaed in criminal or civil proceedings.

A spokesperson for Ms Pelosi told The Independent that her office would not be commenting on an ongoing legal matter.

Fox News reported that the subpoena is connected to the upcoming criminal trial of 42-year-old David DePape, who has been accused of striking Ms Pelosi’s 83-year-old husband with a hammer at their San Francisco residence.

Mr Pelosi sustained head and arm injuries from the attack, including a skull fracture, Ms Pelosi said during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in November 2022.

“What they had to do was they had to take off the skull, reshape it, put it back so it didn’t scratch or pierce the brain. It’s pretty — it’s a pretty serious operation… Always concern, the hematomas, all the rest of that,” she said at the time.

Ms Pelosi was in Washington DC when the attack occurred. Prosecutors have previously said that Mr DePape broke into the home with the intention of kidnapping the former speaker.

At the state level, Mr DePape has been charged with attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, in addition to federal charges of attempting to kidnap a federal official and assaulting a federal official’s family member.

He’s being held in jail without bail. The Independent reached out to his federal public defender for comment.

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