Congresswoman speculates on Paul Pelosi attack motive, gets challenged by KTVU anchor
Paul Pelosi #PaulPelosi
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., attends a news conference outside the Capitol to announce the bipartisan I Am Vanessa Guillén Act, on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.
San Francisco Rep. Jackie Speier, a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appeared on KTVU Friday morning to discuss the attack on Paul Pelosi at his San Francisco residence, and had no issue speculating on the suspect’s motive despite admitting to having no additional information from law enforcement or elsewhere.
San Francisco officials said that the suspect, David DePape, will be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and “several other felonies.” During a press conference, San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott said a motive has yet to be determined.
Ahead of Scott’s press conference, Speier offered lots of conjecture on what may have motivated the attack — and was challenged by anchor Gasia Mikaelian for doing so.
When informed by Mikaelian that DePape allegedly yelled, “Where’s Nancy?” Speier replied: “You just sent chills up and down my spine because it’s so reflective of what happened on Jan. 6 when those vigilantes that stormed the Capitol said, ‘Where’s Nancy?’”
After expressing her sympathies for Paul, age 82, Speier added, “This was a vicious attack and this was spurred by those who want to do harm to those of us who want to protect our democracy.”
“Are you saying that, congresswoman, based on what we know from on the Associated Press?” Mikaelian asked. “Or are you kind of drawing a line between two points on your own?”
“I’m drawing a line on my own,” Speier said. “When you told me the line was, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ that’s code. That’s code for what the Oath Keepers and the other groups that associated themselves with then President Trump and his effort to consecrate a coup in this country. And we’ve got to fight back, and I’m going to be one of those who’s going to be vigilant in terms of doing that.”
Later in the interview, Mikaelian reminded viewers that as of now, there is no suspected motive.
“I’ll note briefly here that we really don’t know anything other than the fact that San Francisco Police have one person in custody,” she said. “We don’t have an identity of this person, we don’t have a motive, that should all be coming in the next minutes when we hear from the heads of the San Francisco Police Department.”
She later pressed Speier on a tweet in which Speier wrote, “we know where this kind of violence is sanctioned and modeled.”
“Are you putting blame on this morning’s attack for a person, for a party, for a movement?” Mikaelian asked.
“I’m putting blame on all of those who have fed falsehoods to the American people and suggested that somehow the election was rigged and that we have to take back our country,” Speier replied.
To repeat, there is no official word from law enforcement on a possible motive.