- The suspect who attacked Paul Pelosi was consumed by conspiracy theories, The NYT reported.
- Frank Ciccarelli, a carpenter, labored with the suspect, David DePape, for about six years.
- “When you received him speaking about politics, it was throughout,” Ciccarelli stated.
The suspect who attacked Paul Pelosi was consumed by conspiracy theories, his present boss advised The New York Occasions.
Frank Ciccarelli, a carpenter in Berkeley, California, advised the Occasions he labored with the suspect, David DePape, for about six years. Ciccarelli stated DePape started to spend extra time on-line over the previous couple of years, engulfed in right-wing conspiracy theories, as per the information outlet.
“When you received him speaking about politics, it was throughout,” Ciccarelli stated. “As a result of he actually believed in the entire MAGA, ‘Pizzagate,’ stolen election — , all of it, all the best way down the road. When you go to Fox Information, in case you go on the web and also you have a look at QAnon, , he had all these theories.”
Adam Lipson, a public defender assigned to symbolize DePape declined Insider’s request for remark.
At a press convention on Monday, San Francisco’s District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins stated DePape broke into the Pelosi house Friday night and assaulted Paul Pelosi — the husband of Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi — with a hammer in a “politically motivated” assault.
The Speaker was in Washington, DC, on the time of the assault.
When Ciccarelli met DePape, he stated the suspect was struggling to search out work and was hanging exterior a lumber retailer in Berkeley, California, The Occasions reported. Ciccarelli stated that after DePape discovered housing, “he had way more time to spend on his laptop.”
Ciccarelli stated this time spent roaming the darkish net led him to change into more and more remoted in the previous couple of years and desirous to work much less within the carpentry enterprise, as per The Occasions.
“He was utterly caught up within the fantasy, within the MAGA fantasy,” the carpenter advised The Occasions.
The Justice Division charged the 42-year-old with two felonies. An FBI affidavit accompanying the grievance stated that in an interview with San Francisco Police Division officers after his arrest, DePape stated he needed to interrupt the Home speaker’s knees when he entered her residence.
On Tuesday, DePape pleaded not responsible to expenses together with tried homicide and kidnapping.
A number of stories revealed DePape had beforehand pushed 2020 election lies and supported conspiracy theories akin to believing that COVID-19 was a plan created by the worldwide elite.
Representatives for Pelosi and Ciccarelli didn’t reply to Insider’s request for remark.