Comment on this story
comment
Several Republicans on Sunday tempered their allegations of an attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), blaming political violence on “both sides” of the aisle.
While many Republican politicians have condemned the attack, former President Donald Trump has so far remained silent.
Paul Pelosi, 82, was still recovering from injuries, Nancy Pelosi said in a letter Saturday night, following surgery for a fractured skull and other injuries from an attack early Friday. San Francisco police have identified the suspect in the attack as 42-year-old David DePape, who appears to have been deeply drawn to election fraud, political conspiracy theories like QAnon and fringe rants from various places on the right.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called the attack on Paul Pelosi “disgusting.”
He then moved the discussion to reports that Republicans have also been vulnerable to politically motivated attacks.
“We had a door knocker in Florida that was attacked,” he said, referring to a recent attack on a Republican alderman that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) claimed was politically motivated. The police have not supported this claim. “I mean, these things have to stop.”
Asked if Republicans should do more to push back against the conspiracy theories and dangerous rhetoric fueling these attacks, Scott said the focus should be on condemning violent attacks and ensuring the integrity of elections.
On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan asked Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) about his posting on Twitter last week of a video of him firing a gun at a shooting range with the hashtag #FirePelosi.
Emmer, who is chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee, defended the images, saying they promoted the Second Amendment rather than promoting violence.
He also went back to bipartisanship when asked about gunmen in Arizona supporting the polls.
“Again, no one should feel intimidated when exercising their right to vote,“ Emmer said. “You have stories on both sides of the aisle. You have stories in many different states about how people have felt like their right has been violated.“
Emmer also brought up the 2017 shooting of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) “by a Bernie Sanders supporter,” telling Brennan that he “never heard you or to anyone else in the media trying to blame Democrats for what happened.”
Nancy Pelosi then condemned the “despicable and cowardly attack,” which took place at a practice for the annual congressional baseball game. “On days like today, there are no Democrats or Republicans, just Americans united in our hopes and prayers for the wounded,” Pelosi said at the time.
San Francisco police on Oct. 28 said they arrested David DePape, 42, on suspicion of an attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. (Video: The Washington Post)
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) wrote on Twitter that the Facebook page of the suspect in the Paul Pelosi attack “looks identical” to that of Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).
“We must draw the straight lines connecting violent political rhetoric and violent acts,” Swalwell tweeted Saturday evening. “All three have glorified violence and [DePape] acted on it.”
The Washington Post confirmed that a voluminous blog written under DePape’s name was filled with deeply anti-Semitic writings and baseless claims, as well as pro-Donald Trump and anti-Democrat posts. He checked into a home in Richmond, Calif., where DePape lives, according to neighbors.
Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Sunday it was “unfair” for Democrats to link inflammatory rhetoric from Republicans toward their political opponents to the attack on Paul Pelosi.
“I think this is a deranged individual,” McDaniel said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You can’t say that people saying, ‘let’s fire Pelosi’ or ‘let’s take back the House’ is saying ‘let’s do violence.’ It’s just unfair. And I think we all have to recognize that violence is widespread.”
McDaniel cited a July attack on New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin at a campaign event, and also falsely claimed that President Biden “didn’t talk about the assassination attempt on” the Court judge Supreme Brett M. Kavanaugh, whom Biden condemned.
“But of course we wish Paul Pelosi a speedy recovery,” McDaniel added. “We do not like this at all in every sense. We do not want to see attacks on any politician of any political origin”.
Asked if there was a connection between the rise in political violence and Trump’s rhetoric, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said there was “a connection with everybody in all of this.”
“Look, it’s not just about former President Trump,” he said. “I mean, people are getting upset about inflation. They’re getting upset about, you know, issues that happened at what we consider a very minor level, but for them, it’s exciting, it’s the end.”
Elon Musk, right-wing figures push disinformation on Pelosi attack
Several lawmakers have also used the latest attack to push for better security measures. Top House and Senate leaders have protective details, but that protection does not extend to their families.
Changes to that legislation should be “strongly considered,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” noting that many members of Congress beyond the ” four main” receive threats.
Klobuchar also criticized social media companies for making money by allowing election fraud and hate speech to proliferate. His remarks came shortly after Elon Musk, who just bought Twitter last week, amplified a conspiracy theory about Paul Pelosi’s attack on the platform he now owns. Several hours later, Musk deleted the tweet.
“I think it’s very important for people to realize that it’s not just this moment of this horrific attack, but we’ve seen violence perpetrated throughout our political system,” Klobuchar said. “This has to end. And there are a number of things we can do from a security standpoint … but it’s also about making sure we don’t add more electoral denialists to our political system.”
Pelosi, who has vehemently denounced political violence in the past, including the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising at the U.S. Capitol, has so far not linked politics to the attack on her husband.
In a Dear Colleague letter to members of Congress on Saturday night, Nancy Pelosi confirmed that “a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to be confronted and brutally attacked my husband Paul.”
“Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our octopus,” he wrote. “Please know that the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many people in Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul move forward in his recovery. His condition continues to improve.”
Stephanie McCrummen, Laurie McGinley, Kim Bellware and Paul Kane contributed to this report.