Newly revealed body-cam footage reportedly contradicts the Department of Justice’s account of the sequence of events that led up to the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, confirming that Pelosi opened the door for the police officers who responded to the 911 call he placed from his residence.
While the DOJ claimed in an indictment filed on November 9 that the officers opened the door themselves, body-cam footage viewed by the San Francisco district attorney’s office confirms that it was Pelosi who let them into the home, a source who personally viewed the footage told the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit.
Pelosi, the officers, and Pelosi’s attacker, David DePape, engaged in a short conversation before DePape attacked Pelosi with a hammer, sending him to the hospital where he underwent brain surgery. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment from Bigad Shaban, the NBC affiliate reporter who confirmed the existence of the body-cam footage.
The account of what transpired provided by the DOJ in the DePape indictment also contradicted the account the alleged attacker initially provided to police. According to the criminal complaint filed by the DOJ detailing DePape’s arrest, he told police that Pelosi opened the door. It’s unclear what evidence emerged in the time between the criminal complaint and the indictment that led to the change in the official account of what transpired.
During a conversation with District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Shaban asked why Pelosi did not exit the home after officers arrived. Jenkins said she couldn’t “speculate,” but also suggested that “he [Pelosi] will one day need to explain, right, to potentially a jury why he did what he did.”
Shaban’s reporting seems to confirm at least parts of the report that Miguel Almaguer delivered on the attack on NBC’s Today show on November 4. During the segment, Almaguer’s suggested that Pelosi opened the door for police and did not declare an emergency or otherwise indicate that he was in danger.
“The front door was opened by Mr. Pelosi. He did not declare an emergency or try to leave his home, instead began walking several feet back towards the assailant and away from police,” Almaguer reported, citing “sources familiar with what unfolded in the Pelosi residence.”
Critics charged Almaguer with fueling conspiracy theories about the attack, and the network pulled the segment from all of its platforms, issuing a statement that asserted that “The piece should not have aired because it did not meet NBC News reporting standards.”
It was revealed earlier this week that Almaguer has been suspended by NBC.
NBC sources told the Washington Post that Almaguer was incorrect in suggesting that Pelosi did not inform police that he was in danger when he answered the door, a detail which was based on reportedly unreliable information provided by an unnamed source.
