Misinformation fuels false narratives about attack on Paul Pelosi

An Oct. 28 attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, triggered a firestorm of misinformation that spread rapidly through right-wing communication networks — and on social media, where the false claims were amplified by public figures with millions of followers.

For example, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza repeatedly tweeted the unfounded claim that when police first saw the man who was charged in the attack, he was wearing only underwear. D’Souza, who made the debunked election fraud film "2,000 Mules," has 2.5 million followers on Twitter, and the tweets have been liked tens of thousands of times.

Elon Musk, who took over as Twitter’s owner Oct. 27, also fueled an unsubstantiated narrative that Pelosi knew his assailant when he tweeted a link to an article that claimed Pelosi had gotten into a drunken fight with a male prostitute. The article originated on a website known for spreading misinformation. Musk’s tweet was later deleted.

The Pelosi family has frequently been the subject of mis- and disinformation and demonization. 

Officers arrested David DePape on Oct. 28 at the Pelosi home. As of Oct. 31, DePape faced charges of attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder and threats to a public official and their family. 

On Oct. 31, the U.S. Justice Department announced that DePape also had been charged with "one count of assault of an immediate family member of a United States official with the intent to retaliate against the official on account of the performance of official duties" and "one count of attempted kidnapping of a United States official on account of the performance of official duties."

With limited information initially available, misinterpretations of the emergency dispatch audio and reporting errors spread quickly, fueling a variety of unsubstantiated narratives.

The unfounded idea that Pelosi knew DePape before the attack has spread widely, with some posts claiming that Pelosi called DePape his friend when speaking to 911 operators.

There is no merit to these claims, officials said.

"Mr. Pelosi did NOT know DePape," Officer Kathryn Winters of the San Francisco Police Department told PolitiFact in an email interview. She declined to comment further. 

At 2:23 a.m. Oct. 28, Paul Pelosi covertly called 911 from his San Francisco home, according to a federal criminal complaint filed against DePape.

During the call, Pelosi told dispatchers there was a man in his home and he did not know who the man was, according to the complaint and news reports. Pelosi said that the man — later identified as DePape — told him his name was David and identified himself as "a friend."

In response to the call, at approximately 2:27 a.m., San Francisco police officers were dispatched to the Pelosi residence for what was called an "A-priority" well-being check, said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott. 

The Justice Department press release and criminal complaint also described DePape as someone Paul Pelosi "had never seen before." 

Audio from the emergency dispatch, which has been published by news outlets, showed that during the 911 call, Pelosi said there was a man in his home and that he did not know who the man was. 

The caller "stated that he doesn’t know who the male is, but he advised that his name is David and that he is ‘a friend,’" said the emergency dispatcher during the 911 call. Some claimed that this exchange proved Pelosi knew DePape.

But the dispatcher was informing other first responders that DePape had told Pelosi that he was a friend, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"We have nothing to suggest that these two men knew each other prior to this incident," San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told reporters Oct. 30. 

Social media users including D’Souza have made unfounded claims that DePape and Pelosi were found in only their underwear. That claim, coupled with baseless claims that the pair knew each other, also fueled false claims that the two were engaged in a sexual relationship. 

The claim that officers found DePape inside the Pelosi house wearing only underwear is linked to an erroneous news report that was later corrected.

KTVU FOX 2, a San Francisco-based news station, wrongly reported that DePape was found in his underwear. The story is now corrected: "An earlier version of this story misstated what clothing the suspect was wearing when officers found him." 

The federal criminal complaint said DePape was wearing shorts when he was restrained by police officers Oct. 28: "Officers removed a cell phone, cash, clipper cards, and an unidentified card from DePape’s right shorts pocket."

District attorney Jenkins said during an Oct. 31 press conference that Pelosi, who had been sleeping when DePape entered the house, "was wearing a loose-fitting pajama shirt and boxer shorts" at the time of the attack.

Another baseless theme on social media claimed the Pelosis were refusing to turn over surveillance footage from their home, even though it is monitored by Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. 

And no, a photo of DePape holding a camera does not mean he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; The Associated Press photo shows him filming a nude wedding in San Francisco in 2012.

PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird and contributing writer Ciara O’Rourke contributed to this report.

RELATED: No, the Pelosis aren’t withholding surveillance video from police 

RELATED: Photo shows DePape filming a nude wedding, not the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack