The man who attacked the husband of the former American Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, in October 2022, a few days before the American mid-term elections, was found guilty on Thursday, November 16, by a San Francisco court .

Jurors convicted David DePape of the violent hammer attack, during which he fractured the skull of 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, and also found him guilty of attempting to kidnap Mrs. Pelosi. His sentence, which could go up to life, must be pronounced at a later date.

At the time President of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi was the third person in the American state and was regularly the target of conspiracy theories fueled by the far right.

The trial showed how Mr. DePape, a Canadian carpenter in an illegal situation and quite solitary, was immersed in a world poisoned by disinformation before taking action. He “deliberately targeted” Nancy Pelosi “because of her work, her role in our political system,” said the prosecutor, Helen Gilbert.

The first step in a bigger plan

At times in tears, the 43-year-old recounted during the trial how he became an avid listener of far-right podcasts. On social networks, he notably shared publications claiming that American elites were corrupt and engaged in pedophilia, or that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.

Paul Pelosi “was never my target and I am sorry that he was hurt,” assured Mr. DePape. He said he attacked him when he realized his “plan had essentially failed.” By breaking into the Pelosi couple’s home in San Francisco with rope, gloves and duct tape, he initially wanted to attack the parliamentarian, who was in Washington that day. He admitted to investigators that he planned to “break her kneecaps” if she did not admit to the Democratic camp’s “lies.”

But sequestering Ms. Pelosi was only the first step in a larger plan, the defendant admitted in court. His nebulous plan included other targets, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, the president’s son Hunter Biden and actor Tom Hanks.

His defense focused on portraying a man consumed by what he thought was an anti-corruption crusade. A line that led Mr. DePape to plead not guilty. Without contesting the attack, his lawyers maintained that he was primarily driven by his conspiratorial beliefs, and that he was not specifically targeting Ms. Pelosi in her capacity as a federal official – an essential factor according to the prosecution to understand both the assault and the planned kidnapping.

“Mr. DePape did horrible things (…), he committed serious crimes that night,” admitted his lawyer Angela Chuang. “But he did not commit these two crimes” because of Ms. Pelosi’s official position, she insisted.

“So traumatic.”

During Mr. DePape’s intrusion, Paul Pelosi managed to alert the police, who intervened at the last minute. The attack was filmed by San Francisco officers’ pedestrian camera. Images that the octogenarian, who was hospitalized for almost a week and had to be operated on, still refuses to see more than a year after the events. “It was so traumatic. I did everything in my power not to go through that again,” he told jurors.

Occurring a few days before the midterm elections, the affair illustrated the seriousness of the effects of disinformation in the campaign, as well as the deep divisions in America. Some members of the Republican party had mocked the attack or expressed a certain skepticism despite the images.

The boss of .

After this federal trial, David DePape must now be tried by Californian courts.