Politics
David DePape sentenced to 30 years in attempted Nancy Pelosi kidnapping, hammer attack on husband
A federal judge on Friday sentenced David DePape to 30 years in prison, six months after a jury found him guilty of attempting to kidnap former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and using a hammer to bludgeon her husband in a bloody October 2022 assault.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley delivered her decision during a hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, reprimanding DePape at length and saying she believed he continued to pose a danger to the public and “all Americans.”
“He broke into the home of that public official, he broke into that private space of home and violently attacked a public official’s spouse,” Scott Corley said. “What that means and why this now is so harmful to everyone in the country and the future, is that when someone is considering now whether they want to go into public service, they have to think not only am I willing to take that risk myself, but am I willing to risk my spouse, my children, my grandchildren.”
DePape, dressed in an orange jail sweatsuit and wearing ankle restraints, did not outwardly react as his sentence was read.
The sentencing caps a federal trial that captivated the nation and raised chilling questions about the safety of public officials amid heightened political extremism and the proliferation of online venues that give traction to baseless fanatical conspiracy theories.
In letters to the judge that their daughter, Christine Pelosi, read in court, both Nancy and Paul Pelosi asked the judge to impose lengthy sentences.
In her letter, Nancy Pelosi said her husband continues to suffer physically and emotionally from the attack, and that the violent incident “has had a devastating effect on three generations of our family.”
“It is therefore necessary that the guilty party’s sentence be very long as a punishment for the attack and the injuries Paul continues to suffer — and as a deterrent to others considering violence against public officials,” the former speaker wrote.
Paul Pelosi said his life “has been irrevocably changed,” and that he hasn’t fully recovered. He noted that a blood stain on the front entryway and the metal plate now embedded in his head serve as enduring reminders of the assault.
Federal prosecutors had requested a 40-year federal prison term with a terrorism enhancement, arguing that DePape has demonstrated no remorse and that a tough sentence would serve as a deterrent to other would-be assailants motivated by ideological extremism.
“At a time when extremism has led to attacks on public and elected officials, this case presents a moment to speak to others harboring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans,” Assistant U.S. Attys. Helen Gilbert and Laura Vartain Horn wrote in a May 10 filing.
DePape faced a combined 50 years in federal prison: 30 years on the assault charge and 20 years for the attempted kidnapping. Scott Corley sentenced him to the maximum term on both counts, but to be served concurrently for a total of 30 years. He will get credit for the roughly 18 months he has spent in state custody.
DePape, 44, was accused of traveling from his Richmond residence to the Pelosis’ Pacific Heights home in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2022, with plans to hold the lawmaker hostage and interrogate her regarding unfounded claims fueled by far-right conspiracy theorists of corruption, human trafficking and child abuse by Democrats and other public figures.
DePape broke into the home, but instead of finding Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington at the time, he stumbled across the bedroom where her husband was sleeping.
“The door opened and a very large man came in, with a hammer in one hand and some ties in the other hand,” Paul Pelosi testified. “And he said, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ And I think that’s what woke me up.”
He was able to get to his cellphone and dial 911. When the police arrived, the two men were struggling over DePape’s hammer. The prosecutors showed jurors graphic police body-camera video of DePape bludgeoning Paul Pelosi, then 82, fracturing his skull and seriously injuring his right arm and left hand.
Still-pending state charges accuse DePape of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and threats to a public official and her family. In contrast, the federal trial centered on whether DePape’s actions that morning were indelibly tied to Speaker Pelosi’s official duties in Congress.
In making their case, federal prosecutors provided jurors a detailed review of DePape’s online purchases and search history to demonstrate how he spent months preparing for the attack. Jurors heard portions of a police interview in which DePape said he considered Speaker Pelosi the Democrats’ “leader of the pack,” and that he would “break her kneecaps” if she didn’t admit to corruption and other claims of human trafficking and child abuse.
DePape’s federal public defenders, Jodi Linker and Angela Chuang, had urged the judge to consider a more lenient 14-year sentence, arguing their client suffers from mental health issues and trauma from an abusive relationship with Gypsy Taub, his former romantic partner and the mother of his children.
Linker and Chuang never disputed that their client committed the violence. They instead tried to convince the jury that DePape was motivated by elaborate conspiracy theories that were nonetheless his deeply held beliefs.
They referenced support letters from family and friends describing the crimes as “completely out of character.”
“David was never violent when he was young, and I am sorry that this has happened,” DePape’s stepfather, Gene DePape, wrote in a statement to The Times. “I am very sorry to Paul and Nancy.”
The attorneys based much of their request for leniency on the influence of Taub, a Bay Area nudism activist who recently served time in state prison for trying to abduct a 14-year-old boy in Berkeley. They maintained Taub isolated DePape from his family and “immersed him in a world of extreme beliefs where reality is not reality.”
“His long-term relationship with his ex-partner, Gypsy Taub, inflicted immeasurable harm to his mental state and what little support network he had in the form of his family,” DePape’s attorneys wrote in a May 10 sentencing memo.
David DePape with Gypsy Taub at her nude wedding on the steps of San Francisco City Hall in 2013.
(San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Chuang reiterated that argument during the sentencing hearing, saying DePape was “gaslit, abused and he was very intentionally cut off from his family,” while Taub watched quietly from a court bench.
In a recorded audio statement she sent The Times this week, Taub dismissed the attorneys’ allegations of abuse, saying: “I love David. I will always love him, regardless of what he does or says.”
“He’s an incredibly beautiful human being. But he’s very broken,” Taub said.
During an interview with The Times before DePape’s trial in her cluttered, eclectic Berkeley home, Taub espoused a number of conspiracy theories, using phrasing nearly identical to what DePape shared in his testimony, including her belief that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were really “an inside job” and that government has been corrupted by satanic cults that prey on children.
At the time, she was adamant DePape had been falsely accused in the Pelosi attack, describing him as sweet and gentle. He was such a nice person, she said, that even after she married another man, she allowed DePape to keep living in her home and supported him financially.
In one video Taub shared from more than a decade ago, she and DePape are nude, discussing his recent experience with psychedelics at a Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.
“What is your dream for the planet?” Taub asked.
“I’d really like there to be peace,” he responded.
“And if the whole world could hear you right now, what would be your message to the world?” she asked.
“God is love. God is loving,” he said. “And this is an illusion.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained why President Donald Trump does not consider Iran’s seizure of two ships in the Strait of Hormuz a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Leavitt made the statement during an interview with Fox News’ Martha McCallum on Wednesday just hours after Iran captured the Greek and Mediterranean-flagged vessels.
“Does the seizure of two ships — as we said, they were Greek and Mediterranean-owned ships with cargo on them, and the reports are that Iran basically seized them and then moved them into Iranian waters. We don’t know what’s going to happen to these crews. We’re not sure where all of this is going. Does the president view that as a violation of the ceasefire?” McCallum asked.
“No, because these were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels,” Leavitt responded.
US FORCES ATTEMPTING TO BOARD SANCTIONED RUSSIAN-FLAGGED OIL TANKER IN NORTH ATLANTIC, SOURCES SAY
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, conducts a press briefing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“And for the American media, who are sort of blowing this out of proportion to discredit the president’s facts that he has completely obliterated Iran’s conventional Navy, these two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal Navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don’t have control over the strait,” she continued.
“This is piracy that we are seeing on display. And the naval blockade that the United States has imposed continues to be incredibly effective. And, to be clear, the blockade is on ships going to and from Iranian ports. And the point of this is the economic leverage that we maintain over Iran now. While there’s a ceasefire with respect to the military and kinetic strikes, Operation Economic Fury continues, and the crux of that is this naval blockade,” she added.
The Iranian made ‘Seraj’ a high-speed missile-launching assault boat on display in Tehran on August 23, 2010, as Iran kicked off mass production of two high-speed missile-launching assault boats the ‘Seraj’ (Lamp) and ‘Zolfaqar’ (named after Shiite Imam Ali’s sword) speedboats which will be manufactured at the marine industries complex of the ministry of defense. (YALDA MOAIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said the vessels, identified as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas, were operating without proper authorization and had tampered with navigation systems, accusations that could not be independently verified. The ships had earlier reported coming under fire near the strait, underscoring the increasingly volatile conditions in one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.
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The Guard attacked a third ship, identified as the Euphoria, which had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, Iranian media reported. It did not seize that vessel.
Ships and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Musandam, Oman, April 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Both the U.S. and Iranian sides have targeted commercial and cargo vessels as part of a broader pressure campaign tied to stalled negotiations. U.S. forces have also moved to seize at least one Iranian-linked vessel in the region, with each side accusing the other of violating the terms of a fragile ceasefire.
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The Strait of Hormuz is a vital artery for global oil shipments, with roughly 20% of the world’s supply passing through it. Traffic has slowed dramatically as ships reroute or avoid the area amid gunfire, seizures and conflicting directives from both militaries.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger met privately with President Trump and administration officials Wednesday to press for federal support and yet-unpaid wildfire recovery funding as the region continues to rebuild from the 2025 fires.
“This afternoon we met with President Trump and Administration officials to advocate for families who lost everything,” Bass and Barger said in a statement. “We had a very positive discussion about FEMA and other rebuilding funds as well as the support of the President to continue joining us in pressuring the insurance companies to pay what they owe — and for the big banks to step up to ease the financial pressure on L.A. families.”
Barger said the two leaders had a “high-level discussion” with the president in the Oval Office, sharing stories about what fire survivors are experiencing day to day. She added that “we left details behind with the President,” but did not specify whether Trump made any funding or policy promises during the meeting.
“First and foremost, today’s meeting was to thank the President for his initial support of infusing federal resources to expedite debris removal, as well as his recent tweet about insurance companies, which have already proven fruitful,” she said in a statement provided to The Times.
Bass was similarly reserved about the discussions, telling reporters that “we will follow up with the details,” but signaled progress is being made on federal support.
“I think what’s important is that we certainly got the president’s support in terms of, you know, what is needed, and then the appropriate people were in the room for us to follow up. And that was Russ Vought, who is the head of the Office of Management and budget,” Bass told KNX on Wednesday.
The meeting comes on the heels of a yearlong standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration over wildfire recovery funding, disaster response and whether the federal government should have a say in local rebuilding permitting.
California leaders, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, have accused the Trump administration of withholding billions in critical wildfire aid, prompting a lawsuit over stalled recovery funds. Officials allege political bias in the delay of billions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Newsom visited Washington in December. When he made his rounds on Capitol Hill, he met with five lawmakers, including three who serve on the Senate and House appropriations committees, to renew calls for $33.9 billion in federal aid for Los Angeles County fire recovery.
But the governor said he was denied a meeting with FEMA and would not say whether he had attempted to meet with Trump to discuss the issue.
Bass, meanwhile, appears to have found a path to the president on a subject that has been paramount for her community.
The fruitful meeting comes after Trump lobbed insults at the mayor at a news conference earlier this year, where he called her “incompetent” for how she handled last year’s wildfire recovery efforts. He alleged that under Bass’ leadership, the city’s delay in issuing local building permits will take years when it should have taken “two or three days.”
California officials, including Newsom, have urged the Trump administration to send Congress a formal request for the $33.9 billion in recovery aid needed to rebuild homes, schools, utilities and other critical infrastructure destroyed or damaged when the fires tore through neighborhoods more than 15 months ago.
What Bass and Barger’s meeting with the president ultimately produces remains to be seen.
The billions in recovery aid have not yet materialized, but the meeting could potentially give those discussions new momentum.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about the meeting.
Earlier this month, Trump criticized insurance provider State Farm on Truth Social for its handling of the devastating Los Angeles County wildfires. He accused the insurance giant of abandoning its policyholders when tragedy struck.
“It was brought to my attention that the Insurance Companies, in particular, State Farm, have been absolutely horrible to people that have been paying them large Premiums for years, only to find that when tragedy struck, these horrendous Companies were not there to help!” Trump wrote.
But the rebuke didn’t come out of the blue. It stemmed from a controversial February visit to Los Angeles by Trump administration officials.
Trump tapped Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in an effort to strip California state and local governments of their authority to permit the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Within the week, Zeldin was in Los Angeles, bashing Newsom and Los Angeles officials at a roundtable with fire victims and reporters, saying that residents were suffering from “bureaucratic, red tape delays and incompetency” and that leadership was “denying them … the ability to rebuild their lives”.
During the trip, officials heard direct complaints from local leaders and fire victims about insurers being slow, restrictive and insufficient with their claim payouts.
After these meetings, Trump directed Zeldin to investigate the insurers’ responses. State Farm, facing roughly $7 billion in fire-related claims, is also under formal investigation by California’s insurance commissioner over its handling of the crisis.
Despite tensions with the administration, Bass and Barger appeared confident that progress was being made on the insurance and funding issues.
“Our job is to fight for our communities,” their joint statement concluded. “When it comes to this recovery, our federal partners are essential, and we are grateful for the support of the President.”
Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired on Wednesday after months of infighting with senior Pentagon leaders and disagreements over how to revive the Navy’s struggling shipbuilding program.
Mr. Phelan is leaving the Pentagon and the Trump administration effective immediately, wrote Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, in a terse statement.
In his role leading the Navy, Mr. Phelan had championed the “Golden Fleet,” a major investment in new ships including a “Trump-class” battleship. But Mr. Phelan’s leadership was marred by feuds with senior leaders in the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, Pentagon and congressional officials said.
Mr. Phelan is the first service secretary to leave the administration, though he is the second one to clash with the defense secretary. Mr. Hegseth also has butted heads with Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll over promotions and a host of other issues. Mr. Hegseth fired the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, earlier this month.
The Navy secretary has no role overseeing deployed forces, and Mr. Phelan’s firing is not likely to have significant implications for the conduct of the Iran war or U.S. Navy operations to blockade Iranian ports or open the Strait of Hormuz. As the Navy’s top civilian leader, his main responsibility is to oversee the building of the future naval and Marine Corps force.
But the tumult could make it harder for the Navy to replenish its stock of Tomahawk missiles and high-end air defense systems, which have been in heavy use in Iran.
Tensions had been simmering for months between Mr. Phelan and his two bosses — Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Feinberg — over management style, personnel issues and other matters.
Mr. Feinberg, in particular, had grown increasingly dissatisfied with Mr. Phelan’s handling of the Navy’s major new shipbuilding initiative, and had been siphoning off responsibility for the project from him, said the congressional official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Mr. Phelan, a White House appointee, also had a contentious relationship with his deputy, Under Secretary Hung Cao, who is more aligned with Mr. Hegseth, especially on some of the social and cultural battles that have defined the defense secretary’s tenure, the officials said.
A senior administration official said that Mr. Hegseth informed Mr. Phelan before the Pentagon’s official announcement that he and President Trump had decided that the Navy needed new leadership.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Phelan referred all questions on Wednesday evening to the Defense Department.
Last fall, Mr. Hegseth fired Mr. Phelan’s chief of staff, Jon Harrison, who had clashed with senior officials throughout the Pentagon. The unusual move highlighted the broader tensions between Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Phelan.
Still, the timing of Mr. Phelan’s firing caught some Pentagon and congressional officials off guard. On Wednesday, Mr. Phelan was making the rounds on Capitol Hill, talking to senators about his upcoming annual hearing with lawmakers to discuss the Navy’s budget request and other priorities.
“Secretary Phelan’s abrupt dismissal is troubling,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Wednesday night. “In the midst of President Trump’s war of choice in Iran, at a moment when our naval forces are stretched thin across multiple theaters, this kind of disruption at the top sends the wrong signal to our sailors and Marines, to our allies, and to our adversaries.”
Mr. Phelan also had a close relationship with Mr. Trump. In December, Mr. Phelan appeared alongside Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort to announce the “Golden Fleet” and the new class of battleships bearing Mr. Trump’s name.
“John Phelan is one of the most successful businessmen in the country — in our country,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s been a tremendous success.”
Before joining the Trump administration, Mr. Phelan ran a private investment fund based in Florida.
“He’s taken probably the largest salary cut in history, but he wanted to do it,” Mr. Trump said at the December press conference. “He wants to rebuild our Navy. And you needed that kind of a brain to do it properly.”
But Mr. Trump’s effusive praise masked deeper tensions with Mr. Phelan’s Pentagon bosses.
Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Hudson Institute, said that Mr. Phelan was “driving the Navy in a different direction” than what Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Feinberg wanted.
“He was championing initiatives like the battleship and frigate that don’t align with where the D.O.W. leadership is taking the military, which is toward submarines, stealth aircraft, unmanned systems and software-driven capabilities like electronic warfare and cyber,” Mr. Clark said in an email, using the abbreviation for Department of War, as the administration calls the Defense Department.
Mr. Phelan also clashed with Mr. Hegseth over personnel issues in the Navy and Marine Corps, a former senior military official said. Mr. Hegseth has directed service secretaries to scrub the social media accounts of general- and admiral-level promotion candidates to ensure they are not deemed too “woke” by Mr. Hegseth’s standards, the official said.
Maggie Haberman and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
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