government is run by a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles. He questioned the results of the 2020 election and echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims the U.S. San Francisco Policeįederal prosecutor Laura Vartain Horn told jurors that DePape started planning the attack in August and that the evidence and FBI testimony will show he researched his targets online, collecting phone numbers and addresses, even paying for a public records service to find information about Nancy Pelosi and others.ĭePape posted rants on a blog and an online forum about aliens, communists, religious minorities, and global elites. She said DePape’s beliefs are “wholly unrelated to Nancy Pelosi’s official duties.” Body camera footage of David DePape, left, moments before he attacked Paul Pelosi at his San Francisco home. DePape acted because of her performance of her official duties as a member of Congress,” Linker said.

“These beliefs matter because both charges require that the government prove that Mr. The crux of Linker’s argument is that DePape is not guilty of the charges because he was not after Nancy Pelosi to try to stop her from engaging in her official duties. “This is not a ‘whodunit.’ But what the government fails to acknowledge is the ‘whydunit,’ and the why matters in this case,” she said.ĭePape pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official with intent to retaliate against the official for performance of their duties. Defense attorney Jodi Linker said Thursday she won’t dispute that her client David DePape attacked Paul Pelosi, an encounter caught on police body camera video. Instead, she will argue that he believed “with every ounce of his being” that he was taking action to stop government corruption and the abuse of children by politicians and actors.

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