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Paul Pelosi Attack Suspect Had List Of Other People To Target: Report

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Police revealed on Monday that the man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California home and assaulting her husband, Paul Pelosi, had a list of other people to target. David DePape allegedly broke into Pelosi’s home on Friday and attacked Paul Pelosi. Police now say they recovered a list belonging to DePape of other potential targets.

“The existence of the list has previously been reported, though police have yet to release any names on the list. Police responded to the home at 2 a.m. on Friday to find DePape and Pelosi struggling over a hammer. Pelosi was reportedly able to call the police by saying he needed to go to the bathroom,” Fox News reported.

“DePape, a conspiracy theorist who frequently posted online, has been ‘mentally ill for a long time,’ according to his purported ex-life partner, Oxane Taub. Taub, herself a jailed nudist activist convicted on child abduction charges, claimed in an interview with ABC7 to have raised two sons with DePape, along with her daughter from a previous relationship. Taub went on to detail one incident when DePape reportedly came home after disappearing for almost a year out of the blue,” the outlet added.

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“He came back in very bad shape. He thought he was Jesus. He was constantly paranoid, thinking people were after him. And it took a good year or two to get back to, you know, being halfway normal,” Taub said.

DePape faces charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary, and other felonies following the incident.

Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy revealed over the weekend that Congress could pursue more protection for lawmakers and their families.

“This is what we were talking about, right: What’s going to happen when we get back? Are we going to be in a discussion about a higher security presence for members of the Senate?” Murphy said.

And since “there’s always threats against Nancy Pelosi,” it may be a good idea to have security for her family members around the clock, said Murphy.

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“My sense is there is still not an appetite to have full security details to every member of Congress,” Murphy said. “We continue to increase funding for security details so that anybody that has an active threat has security. And it may be that we should have a lower bar for what kind of threat would mandate at least a temporary full-time detail.”

“The reality is we lead incredibly public lives. We have schedules that are often determined on the fly. It’s hard for us to operate our lives like the president does with every movement scripted out. It’s part of the reason we chose to do this job rather than other jobs, so that we had some freedom of movement,” Murphy said.

“Capitol Police are conducting a full review of the incident at Pelosi’s home and its protective services division and sharing updates with lawmakers, according to a GOP aide. The department is considering any short- or long-term changes to the protocol that needs to be made,” Yahoo News reported.

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“Now, as Paul Pelosi recovers from his Friday surgery, there’s a separate and more urgent conversation growing over boosted security protections for lawmakers. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that extended full-time security to family members of Supreme Court justices, some of whom were being targeted in the aftermath of the publication of a draft opinion overturning federal abortion rights. A man was arrested in June for allegedly threatening to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh,” the report continued.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz was forced to expand his security team for months after a death threat against him led to federal charges. Cruz explained recently in an interview that “right now, I have a security detail that protects me. Unfortunately, we just live in an angry time where people make threats.”

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