Intruder violently assaults Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home

October 31, 2022

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was hospitalized after he was assaulted by someone who broke into the couple’s residence in San Francisco early on Friday morning, October 28, according to a report by The New York Times.

“Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi,” Drew Hammill, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesperson, said in a statement on Friday.  “The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation.”

Hammill said that Paul Pelosi, 82, was expected to make a full recovery. Ms. Pelosi was in Washington, D.C., with her protective detail at the time of the break-in, the Capitol Police said in a statement, which said the San Francisco Police Department had a suspect in custody.

The Pelosis have owned a three-floor red brick townhouse in San Francisco’s exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood since 1987. In January 2021, after Congress passed a stimulus bill, their home was vandalized with graffiti, and a pig’s head was left on the sidewalk. The vandalism occurred before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In the months since that attack, members of Congress from both parties have experienced a surge in threats and confrontations, including stalking, armed visits to their homes, and assaults. The motive for the attack on Paul Pelosi was not clear on Friday morning, and there was no immediate indication that the attack was politically motivated.

The Capitol Police said special agents from its field office in California “quickly arrived on scene.” Investigators from the Capitol Police’s threat assessment section on the East Coast were dispatched to assist the F.B.I. and the San Francisco police with an investigation into the break-in, the Capitol Police said.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Research contact: @nytimes