Alleged Paul Pelosi attacker shared QAnon conspiracies online; posted racist, transphobic, anti-vax content

The man who allegedly broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and brutally assaulted her 82-year-old husband Paul appears to have shared QAnon conspiracies online.

The attacker, identified by authorities as 42-year-old David DePape, was arrested at the scene Friday morning. He’s expected to be formally charged next week with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and burglary.

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In a letter to her colleagues, Nancy Pelosi thanked them for their prayers and warm wishes.

“Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop,” she wrote. “We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the life-saving medical care he is receiving.”

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DePape, who reportedly left Canada about 20 years ago to follow an older girlfriend to San Francisco, was described by his stepfather, Gene DePape, as a quiet guy who didn’t get into trouble growing up, but who was “very reclusive and played too much video games.”

Gene DePape told The Associated Press that his stepson lived with him in Canada until he was 14, but he hadn’t seen him since 2003.

Police tape in front of the San Francisco home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D- Calif.). Paul Pelosi, her husband, was violently attacked in their home by an intruder. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS)

When he was in his 30s, DePape became closely associated with Gypsy Taub, a high-profile nudist who was also a 9/11 denier, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

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At that time, DePape was listed in San Francisco as a member of the left-leaning Green Party. But he soon seemed to transform into a radicalized alt-right thinker, posting multiple posts online making references to QAnon conspiracy theories casting some members of the Democratic Party as satan-worshipping pedophiles.

Online posts attributed to DePape included hateful comments directed at members of the LGBTQ community, women, people of color, Muslims, Jewish people, and immigrants.

David DePape, right, records the nude wedding of Gypsy Taub outside City Hall on Dec. 19, 2013, in San Francisco. DePape, accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California home and severely beating her husband with a hammer, appears to have made racist and often rambling posts online. (Eric Risberg/AP)

DePape’s purported recent blog posts contain rants about technology, aliens, communists, religious minorities and global elites, the AP reported.

On a different website, a writer identified as DePape’s name repeated false information about COVID vaccines; claimed that Jews helped finance Hitler’s political rise in Germany; and seemed to defend former President Donald Trump and Ye, the rapper formally known as Kayne West, who’s been under fire over recent antisemitic posts.

According to CNN, DePape also seemed to have shared posts with transphobic images, and links to videos with titles such as “Democrat FARCE Commission to Investigate January 6th Capitol Riot COLLAPSES in Congress!!!” and “Global Elites Plan To Take Control Of YOUR Money! (Revealed).”

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A post attributed to DePape dated Oct. 27 stated that any journalists who denied false claims of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election “should be dragged straight out into the street and shot.”

With News Wire Services