Nancy Pelosi Says Attack on Husband Will Influence Whether She Remains Leader

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the attack on her husband at their San Francisco home will influence her decision on whether to stay as leader of House Democrats after the election.

“The decision will be affected about what happened in the last week or two,” she said on CNN, in her first interview since this past month’s break-in and assault of husband Paul Pelosi. Mrs. Pelosi (D., Calif.) has led Democrats in Congress for two decades and many of her colleagues expect her to step down after this election. She has declined to speak about her future plans.

On Oct. 28, a man broke through a glass door in the Pelosi home and rousted Mr. Pelosi from his sleep around 2 a.m., asking, “Where’s Nancy?” according to the police. Mr. Pelosi asked why, and the man said “We’ve got to take them all out,” according to a motion filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. Police have charged David DePape, 42, in the attack.

Paul Pelosi was the victim of a hammer attack at the couple’s San Francisco home this past month.

Photo: KEN CEDENO/REUTERS

After Mr. Pelosi called 911 from the bathroom, two San Francisco police officers arrived. A struggle between Mr. Pelosi, 82, and Mr. DePape ensued over a hammer that Mr. DePape brought into the home, and he allegedly struck Mr. Pelosi in the head at full force, knocking him unconscious, police said. The officers rushed into the house, tackled the suspect, and disarmed him, according to the motion.

“I’ve been close to tears a number of times in this conversation,” the normally unflappable speaker said during the interview.

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“For me, this is really the hard part because Paul was not the target, and he’s the one who is paying the price,” she said.

Mrs. Pelosi said her husband was struck in the head in two places, but that it did not pierce his brain. When Mr. Pelosi woke up from surgery, she said, he told his son, “Oh, your mother is going to be very happy because the [Baltimore] Ravens won last night.” Mrs. Pelosi grew up in Baltimore, and moved to San Francisco after she and her husband were married.

Mrs. Pelosi said she had not seen police body camera footage of the attack and had not talked to Mr. Pelosi in great detail.

A suspect was arrested and charged in the attack at the Pelosi home.

Photo: Eric Risberg/Associated Press

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“We haven’t quite had that conversation because any revisiting of it is really traumatizing,” she said.

Mrs. Pelosi said she felt “optimistic” about Democrats chances of winning races on Tuesday, but added “it just depends on turnout.”

House Republicans are favored to win the majority in Tuesday’s midterm elections. They need to win just a net of five seats to do so. Mrs. Pelosi added that she would respect the results of the election, no matter the outcome; some Republican candidates have declined to say that they would respect the results.

Write to Natalie Andrews at [email protected] sj.com)