CNN
—
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday spoke publicly on-camera for the first time about the attack on her husband, Paul, and his ongoing recovery, saying that “it’s going to be a long haul, but he will be well.”
“Paul came home yesterday. That enables me to be at home with all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your kind words, and your good wishes for Paul,” the House speaker said in a video posted to her Twitter and YouTube account.
“It’s going to be a long haul, but he will be well. And, it’s just so tragic how it happened, but nonetheless, we have to be optimistic. He’s surround by family, so that’s a wonderful thing.”
Paul Pelosi, 82, was released from a San Francisco hospital earlier this week after recovering from surgery to repair a skull fracture and injuries to his hand and arm. He’d been hospitalized for six days following the brutal October 28 attack in the couple’s San Francisco home. The speaker was in Washington, DC, at the time of the attack.
The man accused of attacking Pelosi, 42-year-old David DePape, has been charged with six counts relating to the incident, including attempted murder, burglary, assault, false imprisonment and threatening the family member of a public official. He has pleaded not guilty to all state charges.
On Friday, he waived his appearance in a San Francisco Superior Court. A status hearing was set for November 28 and a preliminary hearing was set for December 14.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have condemned the violence, which raised fresh concern over the safety of lawmakers and their families amid the increasingly hostile political rhetoric in the current political climate.
Court documents released on Tuesday alleged that DePape had told police he was on a “suicide mission” and had a list of other prominent targets. During the incident, the documents said, DePape awoke Paul Pelosi by standing over his bedside and prevented him from escaping – all while demanding to know the whereabouts of the House speaker.
DePape told officers and medics at the scene that he was sick of the “level of lies” coming from Washington, DC, and “came here to have a little chat with [Paul Pelosi’s] wife,” according to a Tuesday court filing.
Paul Pelosi was interviewed by the San Francisco Police Department and the FBI last weekend, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday.
“I will say that it was a successful interview, he does have memories of the event and so we were able to successfully conduct that interview to gain more insight into what happened,” she said on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” adding that “he was able to answer many of the questions that he was asked about how the event proceeded.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
