An oppressive emergency call and disturbing recordings: Around three months after the attack on the husband of US top politician Nancy Pelosi, the US judiciary released videos and other police material. A video shows the attacker attacking 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer at the couple's San Francisco home.
Right-wingers had previously spread conspiracy theories about the robbery and questioned the statements made by Paul Pelosi and the police. Several media had requested the release of the material.
Pelosi's husband was attacked and seriously injured just days before the US congressional elections in October. He required surgery after the attack for a fractured skull and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. The perpetrator was targeting the powerful Democrat Pelosi herself, but did not find her during the robbery. Paul Pelosi was released from the hospital in early November and has since returned to the public eye.
Emergency call also published
A video released yesterday shows Pelosi wrestling with the attacker for a hammer. They both grab the hammer, Pelosi has what looks like a can in the other hand. The attacker was able to snatch the hammer from the 82-year-old and brutally hit his victim with it. The police eventually intervene. You can see Pelosi lying motionless on the ground. The emergency services can then overwhelm the attacker.
The emergency call previously made by Pelosi also became public. It can be heard how the 82-year-old chooses his words carefully. "There is a gentleman here waiting for my wife to return, but she won't be here for a few days," says Pelosi. Or: "I have a problem, but he thinks everything is fine."
One of the published recordings also shows the attacker gaining access to the house and breaking a window. After the attack, rights had claimed without evidence that the attacker didn't actually break into the house. Individual Republicans used the raid for mockery in the election campaign.
Act politically motivated
The attacker is accused of, among other things, attempted murder, burglary, abuse and deprivation of liberty of an elderly person and threatening an official. According to court documents, the man had intended to take Nancy Pelosi hostage and fracture her kneecaps. He reportedly wanted to force the Democrat into a wheelchair to show other members of Congress that their "actions have consequences," he is said to have told the police. He pleaded not guilty in court.
In the course of the publication, a minute-long audio recording was made public, on which the police questioned the attacker about the crime. "I'm not trying to get away with it, I know exactly what I did," the 42-year-old said, among other things. Democrat Nancy Pelosi said in Washington on Friday that she did not want to view the footage. Of her husband's condition, she said: "He's making progress, but it will take more time."
