US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in recovery after skull fracture

Paul Pelosi, the husband of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was “violently assaulted” during a break-in at the couple’s home in San Francisco early on Friday. Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to hospital but is expected to make a full recovery, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill said in a statement.

“Mr. Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” the statement read.

Nancy Pelosi was not in San Francisco at the time of the incident. Hammill said that the assailant had been arrested and that the motive for the attack was being investigated, coming on the eve of the midterm legislative elections in the US on November 8. “The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” the statement read.

Police identified the man arrested at the scene by officers who intervened in the attack as David Depape, 42. He, too, was taken to a San Francisco hospital. He reportedly clubbed Pelosi’s husband over the head with a hammer, shouting, “Where is Nancy?” According to police, he has been charged with attempted murder and other felonies.

Pelosi, 82, represents California’s 12th congressional district and is running for re-election in the midterms. She became the first female speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007, serving until 2011 and then succeeding Paul Ryan to the post again in 2019. Pelosi is expected to be replaced after the midterms, with several polls pointing to control of the House passing to the Republicans after the November 8 ballot.

Pelosi is also number three in the Democratic line of presidential succession, behind President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris. She is also one of the most hated Democrats among Donald Trump’s staunchest support base after leading the impeachment proceedings against the former president in 2019 and calling for Trump be removed from power by invoking the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution after the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021.

Paul Pelosi is the owner of Financial Leasing Services, Inc., a real estate and venture capital investment and consulting firm based in San Francisco. Last May he was in the headlines after being arrested for driving under the influence following a traffic accident, for which he was sentenced to five days in jail in August and fined $6,800. Paul Pelosi was also ordered to attend a court-imposed rehabilitation program and placed on probation for three years.