Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was “violently assaulted” early Friday following a break-in at the couple’s residence in San Francisco, the speaker’s office said.
“Mr. Pelosi was taken to the hospital, where he is receiving excellent medical care and is expected to make a full recovery,” said Drew Hammill, spokesman for Speaker Pelosi. Paul Pelosi was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer, the Associated Press reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.
Hammill said the assailant is in custody and that the speaker was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack. The motive is under investigation.
The intruder who attacked Paul Pelosi confronted him, shouting, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” according to a person briefed on the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it, according to the AP.
Paul Pelosi, 82, owns and operates a San Francisco-based venture-capital and investment firm.
The attack came less than two weeks before pivotal midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress for the next two years. Democrats are expected to lose control of the House of Representatives and may also lose their majority in the Senate, where there are a handful of tossup races.
President Joe Biden “is praying for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “This morning he called Speaker Pelosi to express his support after this horrible attack. He is also very glad that a full recovery is expected. The president continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected.”
The Pelosis’ San Francisco home was previously vandalized in January 2021.
Paul Pelosi has attracted attention in the bipartisan push to ban trading in individual stocks by U.S. lawmakers and their family members. Due to his trades, Nancy Pelosi ranked last year as the eighth-biggest trader among Congress’s more than 500 members, with an estimated $12 million in buys and no sells, according to a MarketWatch report in January.
