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Nancy Pelosi's Husband Violently Attacked In San Francisco Home; Source: Paul Pelosi's Attacker Shouted "Where Is Nancy?"; Police Give Update On Attack At Pelosi's Home. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 28, 2022 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Thanks for joining us on this Friday. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York and we are standing by for an update from San Francisco Police on the brutal attack inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home. Officials are expected to speak any moment. We'll bring that to you live. While we wait, CNN is getting chilling details about the assault. A source telling us the assailant shouted where is Nancy before going after her husband Paul with a hammer. The speaker was not in San Francisco, at her home, at the time of the break-in and a suspect is in custody. I want to get straight to Jamie Gangel on the phone with us after getting new information moments ago. Jamie, what are you learning?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN REPORTER: So Ana in addition to having been told that before the assault occurred, the assailant confronted Paul Pelosi, shouting quote "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?". We now are told that the assailant was trying to tie up the speaker's husband quote "until Nancy got home", is the exact quote. These are from multiple sources who have been briefed and that when the police came into the house, the assailant was saying quote, "we are waiting for Nancy". So once again Ana, we -- we don't know the entire motive for what happened today, but there certainly is a concern about violence, threats to political figures and from this reporting he clearly was focused on the Speaker of the House.

CABRERA: Jamie, I know you're going to gather more information, bringing us this latest information and we will, of course, be bringing our viewers this press conference with law enforcement officials. Let me bring in Evan Perez to bring our viewers up to speed on what we've learned in terms of the timeline in this attack.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Ana, this -- this attack occurred about 2:30 in the morning local time there in San Francisco. The speaker was not there. She was -- if she were at the home there would be normally a U.S. Capitol Police detail and they were not there because she was here in Washington, and so that's one -- that's the back drop of how this occurred. The attacker, according to our reporting, entered the home through the back. He came in with a hammer and attacked the -- the speaker's husband Paul Pelosi. He's 82 years old, according to the Speaker's office he is being treated. They expect him to make a -- a full recovery but some of the reporting you're hearing from -- from Jamie Gangel is one indicator of where this investigation is going.

We know the FBI is now jointly investigating it with the Capitol Police and the San Francisco Police Department, and the reason for that is because what is emerging is a very disturbing picture of an attacker who was focused -- appears to be focused on the Speaker of the House of Representatives. And -- and, of course, that makes it possibly something that the FBI is going to take over eventually as -- as a crime that they are -- that they are focused on and -- and at this moment we know obviously, they know who he is. He's under arrest. They have been looking through his social media. They're getting a picture of perhaps something that could indicate his motivation, and of course, the fact that he -- it appears that he was focused on the speaker is again, one of the drivers of this investigation at this point.

And of course Ana, we can't talk about this without the -- the backdrop, the greater back -- backdrop of, you know, political threats that have been going on around the country. Everything from, of course, school boards to the attempted assassination of a -- of a Supreme Court Justice and of course now, the attack at the home of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and this is what the FBI has been very, very much concerned about. And I think you're going to hear a little bit about that at this press conference that should be starting any time now.

CABRERA: Evan, stay with us and Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. Manu, what is Speaker Pelosi saying about this?

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they've only commented through a spokesman so far and the spokesman indicated -- laid out essentially what Evan has laid out in his reporting that someone broke into the -- their home at night, in the middle -- overnight. That attacked Paul Pelosi who's being treated in the hospital, expected to make a full recovery. The speaker herself was not in San Francisco at the time. She was in Washington and that is the significant part in which a lot of lawmakers are -- are -- are reacting to privately and has gotten a lot of attention. The fact that she has security detail, travels with her.

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RAJU: That does not extend to lawmaker's families and also security does not extend to beyond the leadership in both the House and the Senate side, you know, Republicans and Democrats, rank and file members don't have that level of security as well, leaving them, as well, open to security threats leaving -- opening up some questions about what else should Congress do to enhance security at a time of these rising threats and rising violence against members of Congress, and against a family member of the Speaker of the House. Now this -- the president reached out to Nancy Pelosi today, he -- the White House said in a statement that President Biden did connect with the speaker, conveyed his concerns, conveyed his wishes for a speedy recovery for Paul Pelosi as well. As the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer spoke with Pelosi according to a statement from him. We heard from a spokesman for Kevin McCarthy, not McCarthy himself that he tried to quote, "reach out" to the speaker. It's unclear if they -- they connected as well and Mitch McConnell himself issued a statement. So the political road on both sides reacting to this really shocking attack against the speaker's husband and wishing him a speedy recovery. Ana.

CABRERA: Manu, stay with us. I have Chief Ramsey, former D.C. Police Chief, Charles Ramsey also former Commissioner in Philadelphia. Chief, entering through a back door with a hammer shouting where is Nancy, even going so far as to tie up her husband until Nancy got home. What does all this sound like to you?

CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER D.C. POLICE CHIEF: Well first of all the good news is that he's expected to recover and an 82 year old man attacked that way, this could have turned out to be very different, and fortunately it wasn't. But it does highlight an extreme problem that we have in this country with the political violence is being threatened over and over again, at all levels, whether it's school boards, members of Congress, or what have you. The number of threats have dramatically increased and it seems like the climate is just continuing to get worse, and hopefully everyone really tones down that rhetoric because this is not going to improve on its own. You have a lot of people who hear these things and they take actions like you saw occur today and it's just going to lead to someone being not only seriously injured but unfortunately it could lead to someone killed.

CABRERA: Chief, let me ask you about how this investigation might unfold? We have Capitol Police, FBI, San Francisco Police, all conducting a joint investigation here. How do you expect that to play out? Who handles what and if Speaker Pelosi was in fact the intended target, how might that change the investigation?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, we're going to find out more obviously with Chief Scott, his staff and I imagine the SAC from the FBI and representative from the Capitol Police will probably be at this press conference. A lot of this will probably fall on the San Francisco Police Department unless there's a nexus to terror or something, but the FBI will play a critical role no question about it and they will work together. I mean, that's not unusual having served as chief in Washington, D.C., we have investigations where we had a variety of agencies that would have to come together and work together, and so that's not unusual or uncommon.

So everyone will do all they can to get to the bottom of what took place, and right now since they have him in custody I'm sure there are search warrants being executed now both on his home, maybe a vehicle, whatever, interviewing people who may know this individual. They're going through his social media footprint. There's a lot of things that are taking place right now that all these agencies are involved in trying to gather as much information as possible to see whether or not anyone else is somehow involved in this.

CABRERA: There's a lot we don't know which will be hoping to get answers to when we listen into this press conference. As far as what we do know, just want to bring our viewers here up to speed. A male subject, a suspect is in custody. Police have not identified this person by name, but they say he entered through a backdoor into the home in California of Nancy Pelosi. She was not there. She was in Washington at the time, but her husband Paul was and we are told he was attacked with a hammer. And that the assailant was shouting, where is Nancy, and tried to tie him up until Nancy got home and said something to the effect, we are waiting for Nancy. So as we await this press conference, Chief Ramsey, what are the big questions you have right now as an investigator?

RAMSEY: Well I want to know more about the attacker and whether or not, I know we've got a statement, where's Nancy, but there's more to it than just that.

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RAMSEY: And I'm sure that this happened at 2:30 in the morning so the wheels have been turning for a long period of time now and investigators have had access now probably to a lot of information, not all of which they'll make public. But I'm sure they're going to have an awful lot of information and they'll shed a lot of new light, but we need to know a motive. We need to know why. You know, what was it that really, you know, drove him to do what he did and I mean, it's fairly, at least I think it's somewhat obvious, you know, the attack was really not directed toward Mr. Pelosi. But he was looking for, you know, the speaker who fortunately was not at home at the time, but these are the kinds of things that they have to get at now. And that is to try to find a motive and whether or not there's anyone else involved, did anyone else know that this was going to take place. I mean, these are the kinds of questions that I'm sure investigators are trying to get answers to.

CABRERA: Then you -- you did read that statement, talk about how Nancy Pelosi's office has said her husband is expected to make a full recovery but his injuries led to him being hospitalized, at least at the time that this unfolded. Do we know who called police given that this attacker apparently was trying tie up Paul Pelosi, attacked him with a hammer. How were authorities notified?

PEREZ: Yes, that's one of the details Ana at this point that are -- that are not clear. We know that -- it appears, at least, from some of the initial reporting that he had -- that the home has a security system, which is, of course, very common. And that's one of the things that's helping the authorities in this investigation, you know, typically a lot of these security systems have alert systems. So someone brokes -- broke -- perhaps broke a window or something to try to get into the home, it -- it would automatically trigger a call to the police department. That's how a lot of these things are made. Again, this is -- at this point, we don't know exactly who called the police, but they -- it seems that they got there very, very quickly. It is an address that would be familiar to the -- to the San Francisco Police because I'm sure they have to help provide security for the speaker when she is there.

The Capitol Police arrive as her detail but they also get the local police to help provide some additional security. So it is an address that would be in their system and they would know to respond very, very quickly. We're told by the Capitol Police, by the way, that they arrived very, very quickly. The detail wasn't there for the speaker but because they have to go to the address very often, they have a regional office there that does provide support. So they were able to respond very quickly to that scene. Again, we expect to hear a little more from the police when they do this press conference in the coming minutes, but it is one of those questions that I think is still -- we're -- we're still uncertain about.

CABRERA: Our -- our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger is also with us and Gloria, I know you have been in the political world for many years. What's going through your mind as -- as we discuss this and we talk about the threatened, you know, threat -- the heightened threat environment we're in right now?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. Absolutely. Look, in a way, politics has always been a -- a -- a dangerous business, particularly at the -- at the top levels and we know that. But at this point, I think it's become a very dangerous business and I'd like to make note of the fact that Nancy Pelosi's house was attacked from the outside with graffiti after the stimulus bill was -- was passed. And a pigs head with blood was left, you know, outside so this isn't the first time and that was in January of 2021 I believe. So this isn't the first time that we've seen this happen to Nancy Pelosi, but given the ranker in our political debates and I've heard people like Adam Kinsinger talk about this. You know, people will say yes, what do you expect?

This is terrible and it's -- as Mitch McConnell just tweeted, it's disgusting and we all wish Paul Pelosi well and we wish Nancy Pelosi well and, you know, she's been reached out to by Republicans and Democrats. But, you know, the depth of the level of our politics at this point is, kind of, unacceptable around the country and I think that's why so many people are saying you know what? I can't do this anymore, and then when you look at this when you look at an 82 year old man, presumably sleeping at home, being attacked like this. Somebody allegedly trying to go after his -- his wife, what are we -- what are we to think about what our politics has become? So, you know, I've covered politics a long time and it always has been dangerous to a -- to a degree but I think now after January 6th the Capitol Police are reporting a -- a hugely increased number of threats against member of -- members of Congress.

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BORGER: And I think we have to start paying attention to what's happening in our country.

CABRERA: OK everybody. Please stand by with us. We are awaiting this press conference in San Francisco with authorities investigating an attack at the house of Nancy Pelosi, leaving her husband Paul hospitalized, expected to make a full recovery, thankfully. We're learning more about this attacker and what unfolded, stay with CNN. We'll bring you this press conference just as soon as it begins. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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CABRERA: We're standing by for an update from San Francisco Police on the brutal attack inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home. Officials expected to speak any moment.

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CABRERA: We'll ring that to you, CNN's Evan Perez, Manu Raju, Charles Ramsey, Gloria Borger all back with us. Now Evan, I understand you're learning more about the person in custody, fill us in.

PEREZ: Well that's right Ana. We know that the FBI is aware and they know the identity of the -- of the suspect, the person who was -- who was arrested there at the home. And one of the things they've been doing in the last few hours is going through this -- this person's social media, his social media to get a better picture and an understanding of his state of mind. Perhaps get -- get an -- get an understanding of the motivation here, of course, some of the important reporting we've heard just in the last half hour from Jamie Gangel indicating that the -- the -- the attacker not only said he was there to try to attack or there for the purpose of trying to get to the Speaker of the House is another reason why the investigation is now something that the FBI is very involved in. They are jointly investigating this with the Capitol Police with the San Francisco Police Department who are just taking it from just a random local crime to something that is a lot more obviously.

And so that's one of the things that is going on behind the scenes, we're expecting to hear a lot more from the authorities at this press conference in -- in the coming minutes, but it -- but it gives you a sense that, you know, some of the things you heard from Jamie and her reporting gives you a sense of what the FBI is -- is uncovering at this hour or in the last few hours as they investigate the motive for this attack. The idea that perhaps this person was motivated to go to the home because he was searching for Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House and perhaps, again, going through that person's social media they've gotten a sense of -- of the political motivations that may at least have played a role in some of this. Again, that is part of the reason the FBI is now heavily involved in this investigation Ana.

CABRERA: Manu, I'm curious. How much information about the comings and goings of lawmakers is public?

RAJU: It really depends on the lawmaker themselves. They -- some are very public about what they're doing, others less so, often times during this campaign season we do see a lot more public activity among candidates, people running for office. But it's important to note that those members, those candidates, they typically do not have their own level of security, even in this time of rising threats and rising violence. I mean, we have seen this violence take place from the time of when Gabby Giffords, the Congresswoman at the time from Arizona shot in 2011. She survived getting shot in the head. We saw in 2017, Republicans who were practicing at a baseball diamond and a shooting that occurred there injuring Steve Scalice, the House Republican Whip. And we've seen even more recently Pramilla Jayapal, the Congresswoman from Washington, a Democrat, a man was arrested outside her home with a gun and that happened just a few months ago. So these are -- threats have been occurring over the years.

They have been escalating over some time and even so, these members a lot of them do not have their own personal security detail, in that they don't have it with their family members. (Inaudible) doesn't extend to her family but she does have a level of protection because she's a member of the leadership. Those rank and file members do not. Over recent years since January 6th, there's been discussion, there's been movement to allow Federal funds to be used for own -- these members own protective security detail if they want and some have chosen to beef up securities in their home, others simply have not. So it is a mish-mash approach to security among the leaders of this country, among the rank and file members, the people who make our laws and a lot of them simply recognize that there is a serious risk to their own personal safety and to their family's safety as they're campaigning in public and they're doing public events.

CABRERA: And Gloria, I know you've been, sort of, monitoring lawmaker reaction. Does it seem that other politicians are shaken today?

BORGER: Yes, it does. Of course it does and this isn't the first time they've been through this. I mean Manu mentioned when Steve Scalice was severely injured when he was trying to practice for a baseball game. We've all seen the fact that somebody was trying to hurt Justice Kavanaugh. It wasn't just on Capitol Hill. It was at the -- it was at the Supreme Court and, you know, when Leader McConnell tweets that he's horrified and disgusted about what occurred today and Nancy Pelosi has received outreach from both Democrats and Republicans I'm told from one Republican source who said to me, I am -- I am sick about this.

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BORGER: This isn't about politics and I, you know, I -- I think that -- I think a question we -- we all have to ask is, what's -- what's the level of acceptability of any of this? Have we just learned to live with this? I mean, political violence in this country has been on the rise for the -- for the last year. Some say it's since 2016. Some say particularly since after January 6th. As Manu was pointing out, not every member of Congress has the security that Nancy Pelosi is entitled to as -- as speaker and I think that they're all feeling the danger of this.

Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, because it's happened on both sides of the aisle quite frankly and, you know, when you're asked well, you know, Nancy Pelosi is a well known figure, a Speaker of the House who was not there. She travels a lot during Congressional recesses but are people tracking her, this person obviously expected her to be at the house, but I -- I think this law enforcement has to take a hard look at what resources, particularly on Capitol Hill that they can afford or want to put into member protection right now. And the question is, will they be able to do that?

CABRERA: Chief Ramsey, does security for law makers need to change in light of this?

RAMSEY: Well it certainly needs to be reassessed, there's no question about that but I think everyone needs to really understand just it takes an awful lot of personnel to really provide around the clock protection. And right now at a time when police agencies across the country are suffering from staffing shortages, it just adds to the complexity of the problem. Something has to be done and again, the threats go beyond just the leadership. It goes beyond just members of Congress. Gloria mentioned Justice Kavanaugh and so it -- it - it really is a -- a huge problem and I think part of that solution is going to be allowing for Federal funds to be used for private security if -- if needed or if wanted by -- by members. Because local police and the Capitol Police will just have the personnel to provide that kind of intense around the clock security.

CABRERA: Just coming back to this specific incident and what we know at this time, Chief Ramsey. This is an assailant who attacked with a -- a hammer. I mean, that's just brutal, what does that tell you about this individual?

RAMSEY: Well the fact that he used a hammer, that by itself really doesn't tell me a whole lot but I -- I've seen those kinds of attacks and they are very brutal. And Mr. Pelosi is very, very lucky that he didn't sustain life threatening injuries. A hammer attack is very, very brutal and, you know, so that was the choice and fortunately it wasn't a firearm but obviously it -- it was a person who was intent on doing harm. He may not have been the direct target. He was there at the time, but certainly the speaker fortunately she was not at home.

CABRERA: Chief Ramsey, I'm going to interrupt you because they -- this press conference has begun. Let's listen.

UNKNOWN: In just a few minutes Chief William Scott and District Attorney Brook Jenkins will be providing an update on the incident at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office this morning. Ladies and gentlemen Chief William Scott and District Attorney Brook Jenkins.

CHIEF WILLIAM SCOTT, CHIEF OF THE SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Hey. Can -- can we close that door so we don't get the noise? Hey, good morning. OK. We'll go ahead and get started. Good morning everybody, my name is Chief Bill Scott with the San Francisco Police Department. At approximately 2:27 this morning, San Francisco police officers were dispatched to the residence of Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding an A priority well-being check.