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Police Give Update on Attack at Pelosi's Home; New Inflation Data Shows Consumer Prices Remain High; Elon Musk Closes Twitter Deal, Fires Top Executives. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 28, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

WILLIAM SCOTT, CHIEF, 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.

When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mr. Pelosi's husband, Paul. Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it.

Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup, and rendered medical aid.

The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old David DePape. Mr. Pelosi and Mr. DePape were transported to local hospital for treatment.

This is an active investigation currently being led by the San Francisco Police Department Special Investigations Division.

We are working closely with our partners from the FBI, the U.S. attorney's office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and our district attorney here in San Francisco county, D.A. Brooke Jenkins, and her team.

The motive for this attack is still being determined. Mr. DePape will be booked at San Francisco county jail on the following charges: attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, verbal abuse, and several other additional felonies.

Before I go any further, I'd like to thank the responding officers for their swift action this morning -- those San Francisco police officers are Officer Colby Wilmis, Officer Kyle Cagney and Sergeant Edmund Huang.

I'd also like to thank our emergency dispatcher, Heather Grimes, who is standing her, to my left, for a really amazing job.

For inquiries regarding Mr. Pelosi and his condition, we refer you to the statement issued by Speaker Pelosi's office this morning.

And with that, I'm going to turn it over to our district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, for a few brief comments.

Let me say in advance, this is what we know at this time. We'll update you further but we will not be able to take any questions after this statement.

BROOKE JENKINS, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thank you, Chief Scott.

I do want to commend the San Francisco Police Department for their immediate response to this home and for swiftly making sure that Mr. Pelosi was OK and that the suspect was apprehended.

We are working closely with them right now with respect to the investigation and will proceed with the appropriate charges as things unfold, as long as -- as well as work with the U.S. attorney's office and our federal partners.

Thank you.

SCOTT: All right. Thank you all for being here. I know you may have -- we'll update you when we have more.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know how he got into the house?

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: That's it for right now. We won't take any questions. Our office will be issuing a news release very soon. But that's it for now.

Thank you.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We'll wait for that news release in the hopes of learning more details.

But a very, very brief update press conference with the San Francisco police chief, Bill Scott, who told us that officers were dispatched around 220 local time there in San Francisco to the home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Her husband was there at the time when they arrived with the suspect. He said both were holding hammers at the time.

It sounded like, if I was understanding it correctly, you heard as well, that when they arrived, the suspect then attacked Paul Pelosi with the hammer and then officers moved in and apprehended him.

Both Paul Pelosi and the suspect were taken to an area hospital where we're told Paul Pelosi is expected to fully recover, according to the statement we got from Nancy Pelosi's office earlier today.

We also learned the identity of the man in custody -- 42-year-old David DePape is his name. We don't know much about him but we have learned he will be booked on several potential charges, including attempted homicide, elder abuse, burglary and others.

I think that sums up the new information that we got from this press conference. Let's bring back some of our guests.

I'll start with you, Evan Perez.

Just bring our viewers up to speed, now that we have a little bit fuller picture on what we know at this hour.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana, it appears that the police were responding to some kind of wellness check. It's not clear what triggered that.

Whether it was a security system or whether that was some other reason that, perhaps, Mr. Pelosi was able to get someone to get the police to go to the residence.

But the fact is police were inside the home and they saw, according to the police there, they saw at least part of the attack take place.

Which was Mr. Pelosi was holding the hammer with the suspect, David DePape, and they saw him carry out at least some of the assault he is now charged with. They were able to take custody of him.

[13:35:09]

We have now gotten a better picture, a little better picture of the suspect. Some of our fantastic team, our investigative team here at CNN has been looking into his social media presence. They talked to people around him, people who know him.

And they paint a very disturbing picture. Somebody who has been obsessed with everything from political themes, 2020 election, for instance.

They've been -- he's been posting YouTube videos concerned about the 2020 election as well as the January 6th investigative committee, the House committee investigating the January 6th attack.

There are some religious themes are some of the videos and so on he's posted on social media.

Again, it sort of gives you a little bit of the picture of why, you know, the -- there's now this investigation that involves the FBI as well as the Capitol Police and the San Francisco Police Department as they're trying to get a handle on the motivation.

It's clear now, from what Jamie Gangel has heard from her sources, that the attacker went there looking for the speaker of the House of Representatives. She was not there.

Obviously, she was -- if she were, his -- her detail would have been there with the home, at the home. But she was not there. That's the reason why the police, when they arrived, there was no other security and they interrupted the attack as it was ongoing.

Again, a very scary scenario for an 82-year-old man, fighting off an attacker, now identified by police as David DePape, 42 years old, we're told.

And someone who was posting very actively on social media with a lot of conspiracy theories, everything ranging from COVID origins to things related to the January 6th investigation by the January 6th committee there in the House of Representatives -- Ana?

CABRERA: And an acquaintance telling CNN he seemed out of touch with reality.

Our Chief Ramsey is with us again.

Your reaction to what we're learning about this suspect, Chief.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, we didn't learn a lot about the suspect, but that's because there's an all-lot going on right now behind the scenes.

But you do have a name. And I'm sure search warrants have been executed. They already probably, obviously, have gone through all the social media they can. So, there's a lot of things that have gone on right now.

It seems to me, at least it sounded to me when I was listening to Chief Scott, that perhaps a -- the alarm was triggered when the person made the entry into the home.

When you have high-profile individuals like the speaker of the House or someone in your jurisdiction, your computer-aided dispatch system, your CAD system would flag that address.

So if anything came up at all, whether it was a phone call, whether an alarm or whatever, that would be a priority-one response.

He called it a priority-A. That's what they call it in San Francisco. That's "get there as quickly as possible." Lights, sirens and so forth. So, that would get a very, very rapid response.

That very well could have been how they knew that something was going on and they responded so quickly.

CABRERA: Why do you think they gave so little information and didn't take questions?

RAMSEY: Well, because they have a lot of work yet to do and they don't want to put out any information that's not 100 percent verified.

But there's a lot going on behind the scenes. You don't know if this person -- you don't know answers to a lot of that.

But do know Chief Scott is one of the best police chiefs in the country. I know him very, very well. Right now, they're the lead on this. But behind the scenes, believe me, the FBI is a major player in this, along with the U.S. Capitol Police.

They're trying to see whether or not there are other people that, perhaps, when they go to his Web site, there could be other names that were there. And they're checking and making sure that they have adequate security.

I'm speculating a bit, but you don't know what they may have found that would cause them not to put out any more information than they already have. So, things will be coming out over time, no question about it.

CABRERA: Manu Raju, we know as we're learning, this particular suspect was posted these conspiracy theories on social media, on platforms like Facebook about COVID vaccines, the 2020 election, about January 6th.

And of course, there's sort of this conspiracy theory cloud that continues to hang over our political discourse right now.

[13:40:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And our team, CNN investigative team, has gone over a number of these conspiracy theories in which he was listed. Evan mentioned some of them. But some of them also, I think, we're still hearing on the campaign trail today.

One that he posted was about the MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, saying that the 2020 election was stolen. He posted apparently multiple videos from the MyPillow CEO making that false claim we hear the former president make, as well as some others.

He also posted some -- apparently some transphobic images. He linked Web sites falsely saying the COVID vaccines were deadly. He attacked the January 6th committee.

And also went after George Floyd, of course, who was killed by a Minnesota police officer, Derek Chauvin. He criticized that conviction as a modern lynching.

These are the kinds of theories and world views that he was espousing online, 42-year-old David DePape, who police identified as a suspect who entered the Pelosi home around 2:30 in the morning local time in San Francisco.

Attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer and Pelosi being hospitalized. Mr. Pelosi, as they expect him to recover.

But learning more about the kind of theories, the kind of disinformation he was post willing online and that, apparently, we'll see whether -- how much that -- what the exact motivation is.

Police are not saying exactly why he was in the household. Saying it's still being investigated and whether or not he was actually out for the speaker.

We've heard from our colleague, Jamie Gangel, the speaker was his target. Saying, "Where is Nancy," as he entered the home.

But police not yet going that far as they continue to investigate exactly what he was doing, why he was in there, but at least we know what he was posting online, a lot of disinformation and conspiracy theories.

CABRERA: I want to get right to Jamie Gangel, who's joining us again by phone after continuing to gather more details.

Jamie, what can you tell us about Paul Pelosi's condition right now?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): We don't have an actual update on his condition at this moment.

But what we're told from multiple sources, who have been briefed on the attack and his hospitalization, is that he was taken into surgery this morning, but that the family was told he is expected to make a full recovery.

That said, we know that he was attacked with a hammer. He was hit multiple times.

And just to go back to what Manu was saying, what we've been told from sources briefed is that when the assailant came into the house, the -- he confronted Paul Pelosi. First, he was shouting, quote, "Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?"

And we are also told that he was trying to tie him up. That when police arrived, he was saying, "We're waiting for Nancy."

So, it's -- we don't know all the motivation involved here. But it's quite clear from the reporting thus far that this was directed at the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

And again, just to reiterate his condition, we were told that he went into surgery this morning, but that the family was told he's expected to make a full recovery.

CABRERA: Gloria Borger, from what we're learning, it sounds like this suspect is an election denier and was posting all these conspiracy theories related to the 2020 election on social media.

You've talked a lot about just sort of how things have gone downhill when it comes to --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

CABRERA: -- not just rhetoric but actual actions. Rhetoric turning into violence.

BORGER: Yes.

CABRERA: And I'm curious what you're hearing as you monitor the response from this attack, from not just Nancy Pelosi's supporters, and members of her party, but what are you hearing from Republican circles right now?

BORGER: Well, Republicans, there are many Republicans who are -- have just gone to their Twitter feeds, including someone like Ted Cruz, who is no friend of Nancy Pelosi, who said, "What happened to Paul Pelosi last night is horrific." And Chuck Grassley tweeted about it. [13:44:56]

Rand Paul, not a fan of Nancy Pelosi, said, "No one deserves to be assaulted. Unlike Nancy Pelosi's daughter, who celebrated my assault, I condemn this attack. And wish Mr. Pelosi a speedy recovery."

So, that is tinged, as you might say, with politics there.

I think Democrats are outraged. There are Republicans who are outraged. And I think there are Democrats who say, every Republican should be publicly denouncing this. And just like Republicans said that every Democrat should have been denouncing the attempt on Justice Kavanaugh.

So, you know, it's not -- politics is not going to go away. As Chief Ramsey said, you know, I think the question is, how you deal with this so close to an election.

And how much manpower it takes to actually protect not only our elected officials but members of the Supreme Court, et cetera, and federal judges.

So, you know, this is a conversation we're going to be having. But in the meantime, we are having an election soon.

And the question I have, is this going to inspire other people? What's going to be the impact of this, like-minded election deniers, conspiracy theorists, et cetera, et cetera.

This person is famous for two minutes, right?

CABRERA: Chief Ramsey, do you have a thought about that?

RAMSEY: I think Gloria's right. We're two weeks away and, you know, it's not very much time.

You have a lot of people out there that are, you know, prone towards violence. They hear these things that are being said. You know, you have copycats.

It's just not a good environment right now. You have election workers. Common everyday people who do this for free every election cycle.

They're afraid to come in and participate because much the threats being made toward them. And people being inundated as they try to mail an absentee ballot or what have you.

This has gone totally off the rails. And we've got to figure out a way to pull it back. It's not going to happen within the next two weeks but there needs to be serious conversation.

And there needs to be very strong enforcement action taken against those that do use violence towards others, period.

CABRERA: Chief Ramsey --

BORGER: Can I --

CABRERA: Gloria, go ahead, real quick.

BORGER: I just want to add that Adam Kinzinger just tweeted that "Every GOP candidate and elected official must speak out and now."

CABRERA: Hopefully, this is a turning point.

BORGER: We'll see what happens.

CABRERA: We'll see if anything changes.

Thank you so much, Gloria, Chief Ramsey, Manu and Evan. Great to have you here as part of this conversation. I appreciate it, everybody.

We'll be right back. A quick break and more news on the other side.

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[13:52:19]

CABRERA: We're back. And we're just 11 days from the midterms. The top issue for voters? The economy.

The high prices we're paying for pretty much everything isn't budging. New data out shows inflation is still stubbornly high and difficult to control.

CNN's Rahel Solomon is here with us now.

OK, walk us through these numbers.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK. So broadly, inflation and prices still moving in the wrong direction, which is up, right?

We learned in this report today, just released this morning from the government, that prices on average rose about 0.3 percent on a monthly basis. Annually, that's closer to 6.2 percent.

That's certainly better than the peak we saw this year. But it's so much higher than the Feds' target. The Fed's target is 2 percent. Still quite a bit of work ahead of the Fed.

In fact, KPMG putting out a note today saying that this report in the data we got today essentially solidifying that we are going to see a massive rate hike again next week, potentially, when we hear from the Fed perhaps of another three quarters of a percent, Ana.

As you know, that would be the fourth time consecutively that we heard from the Fed this year that they raised rates in that magnitude.

On the other hand, we got data that consumer spending actually held up. Consumers continue to spend on things like services but also even physical goods. Not necessarily huge, large, big-ticket purchases but still physical things.

It's encouraging to see, even despite this inflation, even despite the Fed's rate hikes, consumers are still holding on.

CABRERA: So the economy is still strong right now. It's the question about, where is it headed?

SOLOMON: Absolutely.

CABRERA: And that "recession" word we all keep hearing could still be around the corner.

SOLOMON: Yes, absolutely. We're still seeing that consumers are spending. Right? The labor market still strong.

Consumer spending, I'm not sure that economists would say that's robust. It's holding on. It's positive. But they're still spending. That's a good sign, at least for now.

CABRERA: Thank you, Rahel.

Well, he's calling himself the Chief Twit. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is now in control of Twitter. This deal full of drama up to the bitter end. And Musk's first order of business? Firing the social media giant's top executives.

With us now is CNN senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy.

Oliver, besides the initial firings, any immediate changes?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Nothing yet, Ana. People like Donald Trump, they're still banned from the platform. Though, with what Musk has said, I think we can probably expect some changes in the near future here.

CABRERA: Now, Musk says he wants more free speech but doesn't want Twitter to be a, quote, "free for all hell-scape." How do you square that?

[13:55:04]

DARCY: That's the million-dollar question, right? Because Twitter has been balancing the desire for people to freely express themselves on the platform with also the desire to make sure you curb hate speech, curb misinformation.

You just talked about how this suspect in the Pelosi attack was spreading election misinformation. These are the things that platforms generally don't want on their sites.

And so it difficult to allow people to, you know, express themselves totally freely and be a free speech absolutist, while also making sure that the platform is clean of this sort of misinformation and hate speech.

CABRERA: I think the big question on a lot of minds is, is Trump coming back to Twitter?

DARCY: I think it's very likely. The question is, not really, I think, whether Elon Musk is going to allow Trump back on the platform. He's basically indicated he will.

The question is whether Trump, who started his own Twitter imitator, Truth Social, whether he's going to abandon his own platform and jump back to Twitter.

CABRERA: Oliver Darcy, thank you very much for the update.

That does it for us today. Thank you for joining us. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy Friday.

The news continues right after this.

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[14:00:05]

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good to have you along. I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.