Paul Pelosi Attacker Sought Speaker, Yelling: ‘Where Is Nancy?’

(Bloomberg) -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the intended target for the intruder who beat her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer early Friday in their San Francisco home, a person familiar with the investigation said.

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The assailant, who is in custody, confronted Paul Pelosi and shouted “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” before attacking him, the person said.

The attempted attack on the speaker, the second in line to the presidency, highlights increased concern among lawmakers over risks to their safety in a bitterly contentious political environment.

Speaker Pelosi, a Democrat, was in Washington with her protective detail at the time of the attack, the Capitol Police and San Francisco Police Department said in a joint statement. The intruder is in custody and the FBI is leading the investigation into the motive.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was severely beaten on the head and body with a hammer and was being treated for blunt force trauma, the Associated Press reported. A person familiar with the investigation confirmed the intruder was armed with a hammer at the time. Speaker Pelosi’s office said her husband is expected to recover from his injuries.

“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill, said in a statement.

The assault on Paul Pelosi took place less than two weeks before elections that will determine whether Democrats keep control of the House and Senate. Lawmakers have expressed concern over their personal safety following years of escalating threats against members of Congress that intensified after supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Joe Biden called Nancy Pelosi after the attack and is praying for the “whole family.”

“The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” she said.

Members of Congress have seen a surge in violent threats against them in recent years including some at their homes amid an increasingly polarized political environment.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has faced violent threats and a smashed window at her home, told the New York Times recently she wouldn’t be surprised if a lawmaker were killed.

In 2017, a man targeting Republicans practicing for the annual congressional baseball game shot Representative Steve Scalise, and in 2011 Representative Gabby Giffords, the wife of now-Senator Mark Kelly, suffered a serious head wound as a gunman killed six others in Arizona.

Many other lawmakers have also faced threats, including speaker Pelosi during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The Pelosi family home is located in Pacific Heights, a wealthy enclave of mansions overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Crime has been a major concern in San Francisco in recent months.

In June, city voters recalled then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who had come to office pledging progressive reforms of the criminal justice system even as crime spiked. Mayor London Breed replaced him in July with one of Boudin’s most vocal detractors, Brooke Jenkins, a prosecutor.

City police department data at the time of Boudin’s ouster showed burglaries and homicides were actually decreasing from the same period last year, but high-profile smash and grab incidents, car thefts, homelessness and attacks on Asian Americans had left residents rattled.

Fellow lawmakers expressed outrage over the attack.

“While the motive is still unknown we know where this kind of violence is sanctioned and modeled,” said Representative Jackie Speier of California.

Senior Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wished Paul Pelosi well. “Violence is never okay,” he tweeted.

Paul Pelosi has faced scrutiny in recent years over his stock trades, prompting calls for limits on securities trading by lawmakers and their family members. In May, he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in California.

--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis, Erik Larson, Karen Breslau and Josh Wingrove.

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