SAN FRANCISCO
\nThe man accused of attacking US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s husband with a hammer had a list of future targets that included Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks, a US court heard Wednesday.
\nDavid DePape told police he had intended to kidnap the Democratic Party\u2019s top politician in Congress and get her to admit to \u201clies\u201d or he would smash her kneecaps.
\nBut when he broke into her San Francisco home in October, he instead found her 82-year-old husband Paul Pelosi, and after what he told officers was a \u201cpretty amicable\u201d exchange, bludgeoned him with a hammer.
\nSan Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy ruled Wednesday that there was enough evidence for 42-year-old DePape, a Canadian former public nudity activist, to stand trial over the assault, which left Paul Pelosi with a fractured skull.
\nThe defendant has denied the charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening the life of or causing serious bodily harm to a public official.
\nDePape told investigators he was looking at other high-profile targets as well as Nancy Pelosi, the court heard.
\nThese included Hanks, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden and the frequent target of rightwing conspiracy theorists.
\nAt Wednesday\u2019s hearing, prosecutors played parts of an interview DePape gave to investigators after his arrest.
\nThe suspect said he had told Paul Pelosi that he had no intention of surrendering, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
\n\u201cI had threatened him a couple of times but for the most part it was pretty amicable,\u201d DePape said on the recording.
\nBut when he lunged at Pelosi, he did so with \u201cfull force,\u201d the Chronicle said.
\nNancy Pelosi \u2014 who as House speaker is second in line to the US presidency after the vice president \u2014 was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack.
\nPaul Pelosi had managed to call police while his assailant was in the house.
\nOfficers were able to subdue the attacker, but not before he had fractured Pelosi\u2019s skull, knocking him unconscious.
\nProsecutors on Wednesday showed body camera footage from one of the officers, the Chronicle reported.
\nDePape could be heard saying \u201cUh, nope,\u201d after he was ordered to drop the hammer before the attack and subsequent tussle.
\n\u201cA sound that appeared to be Pelosi\u2019s snoring, after he was struck by the hammer, was heard loudly at the end of the video,\u201d the Chronicle reported.
\nThe assault and attempted kidnapping came just days before the high-stakes midterm elections, with America\u2019s febrile political atmosphere being regularly fed by outlandish conspiracy theories from national figures.
\n\u201cThe only reasonable interpretation of (DePape\u2019s) statements is that he intended to kill Paul Pelosi when Mr. Pelosi got in his way,\u201d the judge said Wednesday.
\nDePape was ordered to appear in court again on December 28 for arraignment.
\nA separate federal case against DePape is ongoing. He has denied charges of kidnap and assault levied there.
\nPaul Pelosi spent almost a week in hospital, where he underwent surgery after the attack.
\nNancy Pelosi later said her husband was facing \u201ca long recovery process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SAN FRANCISCO The man accused of attacking US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s husband with a hammer had a list of future targets that included Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks, a US court heard Wednesday. David DePape told police he had intended to kidnap the Democratic Party\u2019s top politician in Congress and get her to admit to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n