Every tidings event seems to return conspiracy hypothesis online these solar day , and the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ’s husband on Friday really brought the loony out of the carpentry . The only conflict this time ? The richest human in the world , Elon Musk , facilitate fire the flack .
Nancy Pelosi ’s husband , 82 - twelvemonth - old Paul Pelosi , was attack on Friday after a humankind identified as 42 - class - previous David Depape allegedly broke into his San Francisco home plate around 2:00 a.m. Depape reportedly reach Pelosi with a hammer and Pelosi required emergency surgery to his hand and head . Depape ’s motive has not been established by police yet , but he reportedlybrought zip tiesand said “ where ’s Nancy ? ” repeatedly , extend many to believe the attack was politically motivated .
Depape wrote at least two blogs expressing far - right political position on everything from Holocaust denial toelection fraud . But veracious - wing influencers have spread alternate theories on why Depape was at Nancy Pelosi ’s house last week . And those confederacy theorists got a huge aid when Elon Musk shared a blog post on Twitteryesterdayclaiming Depape was actually a sex worker who was meeting up with Paul Pelosi and things went improper — a theory that has no footing in fact .
Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 2021Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post (Getty Images)
Musk , who finalized his leverage of Twitter last hebdomad , erase the bizarre tweet and its data link to a right - fender web log — which , it should be note , has antecedently reported that Hillary Clinton died and was supersede by abody dual — but did n’t issue an apology or discipline . But the damage was already done , helping lend credence to a hypothesis that is n’t carry out by the fact .
Today , we ’re looking at some of the conspiracy theories that have been circulating online since Friday and the people who have helped hyperbolise them . away from Musk , the self-aggrandizing megaphones for these theories have been held by citizenry like Jack Posobiec , a far - rightfield influencer who ’s previouslypalled around with neo - Nazis , and Dinesh D’Souza , a convicted criminalpardonedby Donald Trump .
“ The medium is take on the assailant said ‘ where ’s Nancy ’ because he was out to get her . A more plausible explanation is that he was crap sure she was NOT AT HOME so the sexual rendezvous with Paul Pelosi could proceed , ” D’Souza squeeze on Sunday in a typicalproclamation .
David Depape is shown in Berkeley, Calif.,on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013Photo: Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle (AP)
But D’Souza is full of shit , just as his “ docudrama ” about election fraud titled 2000 Mules was proved to becompletely nonsense .
No, the attacker was not in his underwear.
The musical theme that Pelosi ’s attacker was in his underwear caught fire because a Fox News time claiming as much went viral on Twitter . But Fox News was just parrot what another tidings outletKTVU , had published . The intelligence clause erroneously reported that Pelosi ’s attacker was in his underclothes but was corrected and now reads , “ fudge factor : An early rendering of this story misstated what clothing the defendant was wear out when officers find him . ”
But that did n’t stop people like Donald Trump Jr. from carry a photo to Instagram showing a pair of underwear and a hammer , say it would be a salutary Halloween costume . Dinesh D’Souza alsotweetedover the weekend that Pelosi and the attacker were both in their underwear .
“ It ’s one matter for Paul Pelosi to be in his underwear . It ’s his own home and it was very betimes on the morning . The remarkable thing is his attacker was also in HIS underwear . What does that tell apart you that the medium is n’t telling you ? ” D’Souza twirp .
Screenshot: CBS News / YouTube
In fact , D’Souza tweet this liemultiple times , lay claim , “ From the police dispatch transcription : verbalize of the assailant , # PaulPelosi ‘ advised that his name is David and that he is a friend . ’ A FRIEND ! Now I understand better why both humanity were in their underwear . ”
D’Souza ’s tweet is bullshit , but it does lead us to the next inquiry on our inclination : Whether Pelosi knew the aggressor and was a “ ally . ”
No, the attacker was not a “friend” of Paul Pelosi.
When the great unwashed went search online for the constabulary scanner audio from Friday ’s assault , they found yak that said Pelosi referred to Depape as a “ supporter . ” But that same sound recording clip realize clear that Pelosi enjoin he did n’t know the man . It ’s precisely the variety of lyric you ’d apply if a mentally unsound somebody develop into your house and you were examine to keep them calm .
The shorthand “ RP ” on the radio chatter consult to “ reporting person , ” in this face , Paul Pelosi :
RP stated that there ’s a male in the family and that he ’s going to expect for his wife . RP said that he does n’t know who the male person is but he advised that his name is David and that he is a supporter . RP sounded somewhat confused .
There are tweets that even exact Pelosi ’s words were somehow a “ confession . ” As NBC News avow on Sunday with anon - the - recordconfirmation from San Francisco Police , the assailant and Paul Pelosi did n’t know each other before the attack . Pelosi was distinctly foretell Depape a “ Quaker ” rather than an trespasser so he did n’t upset the man .
No, there was not two hammers.
On Friday , San Francisco Police Chief William Scott hold a very poor five - minute insistence conference where he used an clumsy phrase to describe the altercation see by police force .
“ They encountered an adult male and Mrs. Pelosi ’s married man Paul , ” Chief William Scott said at the press conference . “ Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer . The suspect pulled the malleus away from Mr. Pelosi and violently outrage him with it . ”
That idiom , “ both holding a hammer , ” can be taken to mean two different things : That both humanity were each carry a hammer or that both men were bind onto one hammer . Scott did n’t take any interrogation after the press group discussion , lead many people to think that perhaps they both had hammers . Even after there was clarification in the mass medium , right fender influencers kept insisting that both of them had hammers .
D’Souza help unfold the conspiracy theorytweeting , “ Where did they BOTH get their malleus ? # PaulPelosi ” But they were skin over just one hammer , according to every intelligence retail store that ’s since clarified what chance .
No, the attacker was not a Black guy.
In the early hours of the news breakage that Paul Pelosi had been round , there were stacks of self - styled net sleuths trying to cover down the digital footmark of the attacker . One delusive story that went viral on Twitter arrogate the assaulter was Black , leading many on the far - right hand to claim the assailant ’s photo was being bottle up . But the picture that went viral was n’t David Depape .
The smutty man who blend viral was a veteran of the Gulf War who allegedly hit a liquor store owner inChicago . gratuitous to say , that tale has nothing to do with the break - in at Pelosi ’s home plate .
No, there was not a third person in Pelosi’s home.
Politicoreported on Friday that a third someone was inside the home base :
David DePape force his agency into the home through a back entering , Scott said . Officers get at the sign , knocked on the front door and were let inside by an unknown mortal . They discovered DePape and Pelosi struggling for a hammer , and after they instructed them to drop the weapon , Scott order , DePape occupy the hammer and “ violently attacked ” Pelosi .
This caused people like right - wing influencer Glenn Greenwald to start “ just asking questions , ” as he so often does , with an ulterior motivation .
“ Many journalist see the glaring questions and evidentiary hollow in the Paul Pelsoi tale . But they also know how significant that narrative is to Dems right before the mid - terms , ” Greenwaldtweetedover the weekend .
But asNBC Newsclarified on Sunday , there was no third person present at Pelosi ’s base during the attack :
The only people who were at the home during the violent disruption - in early Friday were Paul Pelosi , 82 , and David DePape , 42 , who faces try murder and other commission , police force said , clarifying remarks Police Chief Bill Scott made at a news league Friday .
Conspiracy theorists will obviously take this rescript to mean that some variety of information is being suppressed rather than the more probable fact that reporters at Politico either received bad information , or , as in the case of the two hammers , they heard something give voice in an sticky way and passed on faulty selective information .
No, the window was not proved to be smashed from the inside.
A lot of far - right internet sleuths ostensibly became expert in chicken feed wallop on Friday . One idea that became popular among confederacy theorizer was that the windowpane at Pelosi ’s house was smashed from the interior . The supposed grounds for this was trash that fall on the outside of the family .
But if you actually look atthe window , there ’s glassful on both the inside and outside of the house , something that would be completely normal in a state of affairs where someone was strain to realize entry into a home .
No, the attacker is not a left-wing radical.
Jack Posobiec publishedvideoof a neighbour who said she try out to persist by from Depape because he was so eldritch . “ We render to avoid them at all cost , ” the neighbour enounce . But Posobiec has tried to paint the neighbour ’s answers about Depape ’s political leanings as some kind of proof that he ’s actually a left - backstage radical .
“ Actual interview of neighbors from Paul Pelosi ’s assailant does n’t draw up with the mainstream metier narration at all , ” Posobiec tweeted .
But if you actually watch the video , this is n’t someone who actually knows what Depape ’s government happen to be and is just opine that he ’s leave offstage .
Reporter : What would you say their politics are ?
Neighbor : I ’m not certain . I ’d imagine that they ’re more left - run , uh , because of their living for the gay residential district and for , uh , for other masses , but it is … . no I ’m not sure what way they run because …
Reporter : Because they have the LGBT flag …
Neighbor : Yeah . Yeah .
later on in the television the neighbor , identified only as Trish , say she did n’t even know Depape ’s name before the news report . So this is n’t exactly a classic informant on the man ’s political views . The dozens ofblog posts , however , paint a picture of someone with far - right view .
Obviously , none of the fact introduce here will deepen the minds of people on the far - right who think the attack on Paul Pelosi was some conspiracy to beset indignation and fellow feeling for the Democrats . Steve Bannon , the former Trump consultant who was find hangdog of contempt of Congress , say as much on his podcast over the weekend . But it ’s still significant to state the verity and correct the record , if only for history ’s sake .
If you repeat a lie enough time , it becomes conventional wiseness . And we ’ve seen that play out countless times in recent eld . Whatever you think of Nancy Pelosi , it ’s crucial to tell the verity about what ’s happen in the universe so that reasonable mass can make informed decisions .
“ Our children , our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the animation - menace attempt on our Pop , ” Nancy Pelosi wrote over the weekend , according toCBS News .
“ We are grateful for the fast response of law enforcement and emergency services , and for the life - saving medical forethought he is receiving . Please know that the outpouring of prayers and strong wish from so many in the Congress is a quilt to our home and is help oneself Paul make advancement with his recovery . ”
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