Nancy Pelosi tearfully described the terrifying moment Capitol Police shared news of her husband's attack in her first public comments since incident
Photo by Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
- Nancy Pelosi said she was "very scared" when Capitol Police told her her husband had been attacked.
- The House Speaker this week spoke about the assault against her husband in a CNN interview.
- "I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn't be out and about," she said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asleep at her Washington, DC, residence in the early hours of Friday, October 28, when she awoke to banging on her door.
Initially, she thought the visitors must have had the wrong apartment, she told CNN's Anderson Cooper this week. But when the knocking continued, the longtime Democratic lawmaker said she became "very scared" and rushed to open the door.
"I see it's Capitol police and they say 'we have to come in to talk to you,' and I'm thinking my children, my grandchildren — I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn't be out and about," the politician said.
Pelosi's comments in the exclusive interview, scheduled to air in full on Monday evening, mark her first public discussion of the violent attack on her 82-year-old husband last month.
Last week the Justice Department charged 42-year-old David Wayne DePape with assault and attempted kidnapping in connection to the break-in at the Pelosis' San Francisco home. Authorities alleged DePape attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, sending him to the hospital where he underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture from the attack.
The assault marks a noted escalation of brewing political violence in the country. An FBI affidavit said DePape told San Francisco Police Department officials that he was searching for the Speaker and wanted to break her kneecaps as a message to other Democrats in office.
Pelosi, who was in DC with her protective detail at the time of the attack, said authorities didn't even know where her husband was or what his condition was when they first came to tell her about the break-in.
Paul Pelosi is expected to make a full recovery following her surgery.