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Nancy Pelosi's Husband Brutally Attacked In San Francisco Home; New Inflation Data Show Prices Remain Uncomfortably High. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired October 28, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Just moments ago, San Francisco police gave a brief update on the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A source says the intruder who brutalized Paul with a hammer was searching for the Speaker. According to police, the suspect broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home just before 2:30 a.m. The source tells CNN that the intruder yelled where is Nancy before the attack. The police chief described what was happening when three officers reached the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE CHIEF: When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mr. Pelosi's husband, Paul. Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: The Speaker's office said the 82-year-old is in recovery currently at the hospital.

BLACKWELL: The police chief identified that 42-year-old suspect who is in custody. The speaker was in Washington when this assault happened. Now, sources say this is why her security detail was not at her home in San Francisco. Let's bring it now to CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez, CNN's special correspondent Jamie Gangel, and CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju.

Evan, let's start with you. We got about 45 seconds to a minute of new information from the chief there, but combining what we learned from the chief and from your sources, what do we know about this suspect? EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Victor. The police gave us precious little. They did identify the suspect as David DePape. We have been -- our investigative team has been looking at some of his social media postings. These are things that we know federal law enforcement and San Francisco police are now going through. They're trying to figure out obviously, they're trying to identify the motivation, which you know, obviously, we now know from some of Jamie Gangel's excellent reporting. We know that he entered the home looking for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, she was not there. This happened at about 230 in the morning. According to the police, he broke in and attacked the speaker's husband with a hammer.

When the police arrived -- they had some kind of alarm or something that drew them to the house when they arrived. They saw at least part of the attack going on, including the fact that he was using a hammer to attack Mr. Pelosi. He's now charged with attempted homicide -- a number of charges including attempted homicide, elder abuse, burglary, it's obviously an ongoing investigation. The FBI is now involved.

And we're looking at just some of the disturbing social media posts. Again, the investigators are also going through and you get a very -- obviously, a picture of a disturbed person, somebody who has been posting things on Facebook, including links to the My Pillow CEO, Mike Lindell's false claims about election fraud in the 2020 election. There's some transphobic images. We've also seen stuff on there about the COVID vaccines and about the Derek Chauvin trial. This is the police officer at Minnesota who was convicted of killing George Floyd.

There's also some references on his social media postings about the January 6 committee. He calls it the Democrat farce Commission or the committee. Again, these are part of the -- this is part of the reason why the FBI is assisting in this investigation. And it really gives you a sense that in addition to some of the stuff we've heard from Jaime Gangel's sources, that he was looking for the Speaker of the House, it gives you a sense that this was at least partially a politically motivated attack, part of the larger problem that the FBI and federal law enforcement has been very, very much concerned about, Bianna and Victor.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it painted a picture of a rather disturbed individual. Jamie, we know from that short police briefing that the Capitol Police were responding to a priority well-being check. I know you have more details about how all of this played out. It is quite alarming to just visualize what Paul Pelosi standing there fighting with the suspect over a hammer, it must have been like in those early morning hours.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The reports we're getting really are chilling. We have some new details on what I'm told is his condition. We've been told from multiple sources that Paul Pelosi was taken into surgery this morning after the attack. We understand that right now he is still in surgery.

[14:05:02]

That said, we're also told that his family has been told by doctors that he's expected to make a full recovery. But as Evan just said, he -- you know, we now know he was hit multiple times with a hammer and so there is a lot of concern about that. And we really won't have probably an official update on his condition until he comes out of surgery.

Just to go back to what Evan was referring to. Our sources have told us that they do think this was at least partially politically motivated, that when the attacker came in, he confronted Mr. Pelosi in the home, and he was shouting "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?" We're also told that the assailant was trying to tie up Mr. Pelosi. And it appears that when the police arrived, he said we are waiting "until Nancy got home." And then he just kept saying, we're waiting for Nancy and attacked Mr. Pelosi.

BLACKWELL: So again, the update that Paul Pelosi is still in surgery, sources telling Jaime Gangel. Manu Raju, we've obviously heard from Speaker Pelosi's office. What are we hearing, though from other leaders there on Capitol Hill?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing from both sides of the aisle a shock, horror -- members saying they're horrified by this, expressing their sympathy and calling for Paul Pelosi's quick recovery. We do know that the president, President Biden reached out to the speaker today -- spoke to the speaker this morning in the aftermath of the news on Paul Pelosi -- the attack on Paul Pelosi. We do know that the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York also spoke with the speaker. The Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has yet to issue a statement himself. But a spokesman has conveyed his concerns as -- the Republican leader is concerned that he "reached out to the speaker today." Unclear if they also connected.

And then we're hearing some other Republicans also raising concerns on social media, Ted Cruz, among others about the political violence that we're seeing here in this country, some even urging Republicans to go further. Adam Kinzinger who's a member of the January 6 committee and was someone who has been on the outs of his party for some time tweeted that he's -- when you convince people that politicians are rigging elections, drink baby's blood, etcetera, you will get violence. This must be rejected. And calling for all leaders of political stripes it'd be very forceful in condemning the -- what we've seen here -- this development that occurred early this morning at the Pelosi household.

So both sides of the aisle are horrified about this. And also recognizing that this is an issue that confronts members when they're out in public is personal safety, political violence, threats have been on the rise for many years, specifically -- particularly in the last several years, and members have had to beef up their own personal security, even though only the leadership and both the House and the Senate are the ones who are afforded taxpayer-funded security. So a lot of concern about what happened here, and a lot of reactions from both sides, guys.

GOLODRYGA: Let's recall, it was just recently that Maine Senator Susan Collins expressed -- Collins expressed her concern that a possible congressman or woman or elected official could actually be murdered or harmed because of this heightened rhetoric and polarization that we're seeing.

Let's also bring in CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller, along with CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI director Andrew McCabe. So, John, what do you make of -- it was a very short press briefing, but from what we heard, what stood out to you, the weapon of choice here being a hammer?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So very short briefing by Bill Scott, very good police chief. I worked with him when we were in the LAPD together. But he gave us a clue when he personally thanked one of the 911 operators, which tells us a little bit about how police -- it indicates that there may have been a phone call that Paul Pelosi could have gotten to a telephone. Now when you have a congressional leader, that house is going to have alarms, it's going to have cameras, all of that's installed by the Capitol Police. The way we would have set it up, it would have also had a panic button that would have sent a call for help right out. So layers of security we'll have to dig deeper to find out which one worked.

As for the hammer, you know, that tells us a couple of things. One, an offender's characteristics. That's high risk. You're going out, you're going to break into a house with a hammer, you're going to use it as the weapon, it's not a gun, it's very personal, it's up close, you're at 2:30 in the morning you're probably expecting your victim or victims to be sleeping, but it shows a lot of anger in terms of the weapon you chose. You're going to hit somebody with a hammer, it's got a blunt end, it's got a sharp, and so that gives us some insight into Mr. DePape.

[14:10:23]

BLACKWELL: But that is -- that is if he brought the hammer in. And if reporting is updated, let me know. But what we know is that police came in and saw both of them holding the hammer, right?

MILLER: So they're struggling over a hammer.

BLACKWELL: Are they?

MILLER: This is like a bad scene from a movie.

BLACKWELL: Right.

MILLER: They're struggling over the hammer in this fight when police come in. And when Mr. DePape pulls that hammer away and starts beating Mr. Pelosi again, police are crossing the room. You know the way Bill Scott described it, it almost sounded in slow motion. This probably happened within two seconds. They come in, they see them struggling over the hammer, he gets the hammer, he's hitting him, and they tackle him.

BLACKWELL: Yes. What we don't know is if Paul Pelosi picked up a hammer after this man broke in and then went after him because DePaper is also -- GOLODRYGA: He can be himself, right.

BLACKWELL: In the hospital at this moment. Andrew, let me come to you. What does this investigation look like now as they're trying to figure out if this is politically motivated if he went there based on one of these conspiracy theories that's on his social media to attack the speaker?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure. So, we do have a couple of indicators like you just mentioned, the fact that he, according to Jaime Gangel's reporting was looking for the speaker, not the speaker's husband, and of course, the comments that they've seen on social media. All those things raised the specter that this individual may have been motivated by politics or ideology. That's really what draws the attention of the FBI to this investigation.

So right now, Victor, they are coursing through everything they can find and attribute back to this individual. They're looking at the social media. They're looking at any devices, telephones, iPods, any sort of electronics they can associate with him. They likely have already executed search warrants on his residence, and or his vehicle, if they've identified those. They're talking to associates to understand what e-mail accounts and telephone numbers he's used. And they will go through all of that material with court-authorized subpoenas and search warrants to understand as much as they possibly can about not just what he was thinking, but what he's been doing over the last, you know, 24, 48, 72 hours. Who is he been talking to?

And the biggest thing in their mind right now, is there anyone else out there who harbors the same sort of intent as this gentleman and may be planning a similar attack or an attack on someone else. The FBI wants to stop that next attack before it happens if, in fact, there is one that's been contemplated.

GOLODRYGA: And, John, we know that the speaker was not there and that she does travel with security given her level, and she does have her own security detail not afforded to every member of Congress. Does it surprise you, though, given this heightened threat environment that we're currently in, that her home didn't have standard security there regardless of whether or not she is in town?

MILLER: You know that is a resource issue for the Capitol Police. We heard our CNN contributor and former Capitol Police Officer Frank Fanone telling us today that they are stretched very thin. That is still the case, which is why there are so few security details on Capitol so aside -- on Capitol personnel. Aside from the electronic thing, that would really be something where the San Francisco Police would have had to make an assessment to place a car there and absent a specific threat that would be abnormal.

BLACKWELL: You know, you mentioned that Senator Collins, her fear of someone being actually killed based on the heightened rhetoric. Manu, let me bring it back to you. We have seen recently, people have been arrested outside of members of Congress, their homes. Of course, we remember the shooting several years ago at the congressional baseball game. This is an environment that is only intensifying over a longer period.

RAJU: Yes, no question about it. I mean, just a few months ago, outside the home of Pramila Jayapal, she's a Washington democrat, a man was arrested having a -- holding a gun outside of her home, this we've seen the baseball shooting and happened in 2017. Republican members of Congress are practicing for an upcoming bipartisan baseball game, there was a shooting that occurred there injuring Steve Scalise, he was the number two House Republican.

We've seen this stretch back all the way from 2011 when Gabby Giffords, the Arizona Democratic Congresswoman at the time, she was shot in the head, survived that brutal attack when she was having a public event. And we've just seen these levels of threats rise and members recognize this. And we've seen some changes in the way the members of Congress deal with it. They are now allowed to use their money that has been provided -- a taxpayer money to be If of their own personal security.

[14:15:02]

But not everyone has to do it, not everyone does do that, and not -- certainly, not everyone traveled with their own security that is only afforded to the leadership. We have seen the January 6 committee members, for instance, have their own security detail amid concerns about threats that they too are -- have been receiving in the recent months. So this is a different political environment. Yes, it's been -- it's happened in the past, but it is undoubtedly been escalating. Members are feeling it and are reacting and saying they're horrified by the events of last night.

GOLODRYGA: Andrew, as we just heard from John, and we heard earlier throughout our programming today as we've covered it that that at least police coverage seems to be strained here and that there's not enough resources to protect family members or even members of Congress who are not high enough as a Speaker Pelosi is. What about the FBI? I mean, they're poring through a countless number of threats. I would imagine daily that we hear nothing about it. Does this at all change how they approach these threats in their job, especially as we are now approaching the midterms just two weeks away -- less than?

MCCABE: Well, Bianna, yes, I think we've seen that already. I think we've seen in the way that the FBI and its public statements is elevated the specter of domestic extremism -- domestic violent extremism. And look, there are still some very legitimate questions to be answered about how the FBI did its job in the lead-up to January 6. Most indicators in the aftermath of January 6 point towards the FBI taking a much more active look at some of these extreme social media platforms and open -- you know, open to the public places where a lot of this sort of really heated rhetoric and potential violent planning takes place. That's, of course, the sort of work that they should have been doing before January 6. And as I said, those questions still need to be answered.

But absolutely, the Bureau is being pulled in new directions, having to dedicate additional resources to domestic terrorism issues, in the same way, that the Capitol police and state and local police officers are as well. This is an elevated threat environment by anyone's assessment, and you know, we ignore it to our peril.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we just heard from the NYPD yesterday talking about the elevated risk and threat in this environment. Andrew McCabe, Evan Perez, Manu Raju, John Miller, thank you. Of course, we'll continue to bring you the latest developments as soon as we get them.

Let's turn now to the latest economic indicators showing that inflation is stubbornly high. Today's numbers reflect everyday prices went up month to month and year over year. And that's in spite of the Feds' aggressive action. Still, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen exclusively told CNN that she sees no sign of a recession right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We are in their full employment economy. It's very natural the growth would slow and it has over the first three quarters of this year. But it continues to be OK. We have a very strong labor market. I don't see signs of recession in this economy at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Gene Sperling is the coordinator of the American rescue plan and senior adviser to President Biden, good to have you on.

GENE SPERLING, COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Act, but eggs are 30 percent more expensive than they were a year ago, milk is up, meat is up. There's a Democratic strategist campaign official told CNN we can talk about what we've done all these huge legislative wins until we're blue in the face. If people can't feel it, it doesn't matter at this point. What do you say about that framing of the economic picture?

SPERLING: Well, first of all, there's no question. Prices and inflation are too high all around the world and we have not escaped it here. And we understand that that hits people at the grocery line, that hits them at the gas pump, and that's why reducing costs for families is the president's number one strategy. But I think that when you ask who is actually doing something about it, you see the president taking aggressive actions on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. We now see gas prices coming down again almost $1.30 -- down from their peak. We see several states down 10, 20 cents in just the last week.

The average gas price -- the most frequent gas price at a gas station today in the United States is either $3.29 or $3.49. And just quickly, look at the things that the president has been doing from reducing prescription drug prices, capping insulin prices at 35 -- $35, lowering premiums for eight million -- for 14 million a year. Americans buy $800, the 40 million up to student loan borrowers who could get their 10 to $20,000 in debt forgiveness.

BLACKWELL: Sure. [14:20:10]

SPERLING: The various ways of lowering energy prices, all of those things are about reducing out-of-pocket costs for American families. All of those things are things he's doing.

BLACKWELL: I get it.

SPERLING: And all of them are the things that the Republicans are talking about undoing that would only raise prices for typical families.

BLACKWELL: Well, let's talk more about that Strategic Petroleum Reserve because you talked about the aggressive action the president took, committed 180 million barrels, all of those now are contracted and allotted. There's not a hell of a lot the president can do unilaterally. Is he considering tapping into the SPR again?

SPERLING: You know, I think he's been pretty clear that he is keeping those options on the table and that we are going forward in that. He's also made very clear he wants to see companies investing more in expanding refineries.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SPERLING: As opposed to using their dollars to do stock buybacks. And, you know -- so this is -- this is issue number one. But he also realizes, and this is critical, that any dollar you can save for an American family member out of their pocket is helpful. So, when you're giving tax cuts for people who are going to be buying energy-efficient appliances, you're saving them money.

Finally, we stood up to big pharma and have Medicare able to negotiate and reduce prices on prescription drugs. That's been one of the biggest cost issues for seniors who are now going to get at least $140 more per month in their social security check to help them deal with those issues. And look, we'd all like to see inflation coming down quicker.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SPERLING: But I think there are signs, you know, even this week, the numbers are showing we're either at expectations or below expectations. We saw the -- what's called the GDP Price Index go up to 4.1 percent.

BLACKWELL: I see that gap.

SPERLING: Too high. But it was 9 percent in the second quarter. I think you're going to see --

BLACKWELL: However, for the people at home who are still waiting for prices to come down simply to say it's exactly what we expected, it's still too high. It -- that -- would you suggest that while we're saving people money who buy on energy-efficient equipment, they may not have the money to buy energy-efficient appliances because they are spending more for clothing and food and gasoline. Gene, I wish I had more time to talk to you, but we had the breaking news at the -- go ahead.

SPERLING: We're on the same -- we're on the same page. You got to remember the first thing I said is, we start with the view, there's global inflation, prices are too high but the clear point is, I do think things are starting to move in the right direction. And the real issue is who is fighting every single day to try to lower prices?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SPERLING: And if you told me there are other ideas out there, we want to hear them. But right now, those ideas are coming from the president and passed in these pieces of legislation, which are now up for being repealed if Congress were to change hands.

BLACKWELL: All right. I get it, Gene, but I go back to that quote at the top who says you can talk about this legislation until the blue in the face. If people can feel it, it doesn't matter at this point. Just a few days left from the vote --

SPERLING: Well, let's also remember --

BLACKWELL: Gene --

SPERLING: The highest job growth --

BLACKWELL: Got it.

SPERLING: -- In the history of our country this year 3.5 percent. So we understand the pain people are feeling with prices, but we also got to present a balanced picture and remember how well our country is doing compared to others in dealing with a pandemic --

BLACKWELL: All right.

SPERLING: -- In terms of job growth and unemployment. That's just rounding out. That's not ignoring any pain at the pump or the gas or the grocery line. That's just giving a balanced view of how this economy's doing, including the progress --

BLACKWELL: Gene, I got to wrap it here.

SPERLING: Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: We got some breaking news. Thank you, Gene Sperling.

SPERLING: Take care.

GOLODRYGA: President Biden and former President Obama are hitting the campaign trail today with Democrats' control of Congress on the line.

BLACKWELL: And we'll continue to follow the latest involving the attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Our teams have arrived on the scene there and we have details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:29]

BLACKWELL: All right, more in the breaking news out of San Francisco. Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was attacked. According to police, the suspect broke into their home early in the morning, assaulted him with a hammer. One source tells CNN that the intruder yelled, where is Nancy, before the attack.

GOLODRYGA: CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell is in San Francisco. So, what more are you learning, Josh?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as I step away here, this is actually the Pelosi residence behind me. You can see that it remains a crime scene at this hour. Police here in San Francisco have both ends of the street blocked off. We've seen a couple of dozen law enforcement personnel here including numerous special agents with the FBI. Obviously, this incident occurring in the early morning hours but the long, methodical process of their investigation continues.

We know that they're going to continue to gather evidence. We can see from our own vantage point here that there are security cameras outside the residence so that presumably would be important evidence and cataloging everything that they found. This was one of those incidences where a suspect has been arrested, has been taken into custody, so there will be a prosecution.

We know from the district attorney that this suspect, David DePape, is looking at numerous charges including attempted homicide assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, as well as other charges. And so in order to build that case, they're going to have to go through this methodical process of gathering that evidence. Now, we have been learning -- our CNN and investigative team looking into the social media footprint of this suspect. It really paints a very chilling and troubling portrait of someone who presumably believed in conspiracy theories, some of these posts on Facebook.