The male who apparently assaulted Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s other half early Friday published memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and an associate informed CNN that he appeared “out of touch with truth.”.
David DePape, 42, was determined by authorities Friday as the suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi at the speaker’s San Francisco house.
3 of DePape’s loved ones informed CNN that DePape has actually been separated from his household for many years, and verified that the Facebook account– which was removed by the social networks business on Friday– came from him.
Hear information from Paul Pelosi’s coded 911 call that resulted in his rescue
His stepfather, Gene DePape, stated David DePape matured in Powell River, British Columbia, and left Canada about twenty years ago to pursue a relationship that brought him to California.
” I actually do not understand what to believe,” the suspect’s uncle, Mark DePape, stated of his nephew’s supposed attack on Pelosi. “Ideally it’s a rip-off. I do not wish to hear something like that.”.
Individuals who understood DePape in California explained him as an odd character.
A 2013 post in the San Francisco Chronicle determined him as a “hemp precious jewelry maker,” and stated that he dealt with a nudist activist. Other pictures released by the Chronicle program DePape– totally dressed– at a naked wedding event on the actions of San Francisco Town Hall.
Linda Schneider, a California citizen, informed CNN she was familiar with DePape approximately 8 years earlier which he sometimes housesat for her. When they satisfied, she stated, DePape was residing in a storage system in the Berkeley location and informed her he had actually been battling with controlled substances however was “attempting to produce a brand-new life for himself.”.
She stated that he was incredibly shy. “He stated he could not even go and have a savings account due to the fact that he was horrified of talking to a teller,” Schneider stated.
However Schneider later on got “actually troubling” e-mails from DePape in which he seemed like a “megalomaniac therefore out of touch with truth,” she stated. She stated she stopped interacting with him “due to the fact that it appeared so hazardous,” including that she remembered him “utilizing Scriptural validation to do damage.”.
DePape’s social networks existence likewise paints a photo of somebody on a stressing trajectory, falling under conspiracy theories in the last few years.
In 2015, David DePape published links on his Facebook page to several videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell incorrectly declaring that the 2020 election was taken. Other posts consisted of transphobic images and connected to sites declaring Covid vaccines were fatal. “The death rates being promoted are what ever ‘THEY’ wish to be promoted as the death rate,” one post read.
DePape likewise published links to YouTube videos with titles like “Democrat FARCE Commission to Examine January sixth Capitol Riot COLLAPSES in Congress!!!” and “Global Elites Strategy To Take Control Of YOUR Cash! (Exposed)”.
2 days after previous Minneapolis Law enforcement officer Derek Chauvin was condemned of eliminating George Floyd, DePape composed that the trial was “a modern-day lynching,” incorrectly showing that Floyd passed away of a drug overdose.
He likewise published material about the “Terrific Reset”– the stretching conspiracy theory that international elites are utilizing coronavirus to introduce a brand-new world order in which they acquire more power and oppress the masses. And he grumbled that political leaders making pledges to attempt to win votes “are using you kickbacks in exchange for your additional enslavement.”.
The majority of the general public posts on DePape’s Facebook page were from 2021. In earlier years, DePape likewise published long screeds about religious beliefs, consisting of claims that “Jesus is the anti christ.” None of the general public posts appeared to discuss Pelosi.
More just recently, 2 other blog sites composed by somebody with the username “daviddepape” have actually published material comparable to that on DePape’s Facebook page.
In a string of posts on a WordPress.com blog site throughout a number of days in August 2022, the author grumbled about huge tech censorship and published declarations like “Hitlery not did anything incorrect.” The website has actually given that been taken offline.
And another blog site, likewise credited to “daviddepape,” included antisemitic screeds and content connected to the QAnon conspiracy theory. One video published on the website consists of a shot of Pelosi swinging a gavel throughout among previous President Donald Trump’s impeachments, and another video consists of a picture of Pelosi and other political leaders. A 3rd video consists of a clip of Pelosi speaking on the Home flooring.
Other posts from the last couple of weeks included videos implicating LGBTQ individuals of “grooming” kids, and stated that “any reporter stating” there is no proof of election scams “ought to be dragged right out into the street and shot.” The most current post– connecting to a YouTube video comparing colleges to cults– increased the day prior to the Pelosi attack.
CNN was unable to validate that the 2 blog sites were composed by DePape.
Another previous associate of DePape’s likewise informed CNN he showed worrying habits throughout the years.
Laura Hayes, who likewise resides in California, stated she dealt with DePape for a couple of months approximately a years earlier making hemp bracelets when he was residing in a storage shed in the Berkeley location. She stated DePape offered the bracelets as an organization.
” He was extremely odd. He didn’t make eye contact extremely well,” Hayes stated. She remembered him stating that “he speaks to angels and there will be a tough time coming.” However she didn’t keep in mind any seriously threatening remarks, and stated she didn’t believe much of it due to the fact that “it’s Berkeley,” a location where eccentric characters aren’t unusual.
Hayes, who was Facebook good friends with DePape, called his more current posts “so phobic in a lot of methods” and filled with “a lot anger.”.
Source: CNN.
