Digging Into The Paul Pelosi Narrative
If you have been online within the last 48hrs, you would have been hard-pressed to miss the news that Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was allegedly struck over the head with a hammer at 2:27 am on Friday at the couples San Fransico home after an individual broke into the residence.
It is still very early in the investigation, however, there is an unavoidable stench of narrative creation with the facts of this case. Below, I will walk you through my thoughts, findings and speculations.
Who Is David DaPape?
Both the police and media have reported that the suspect has been named as 42-year-old David DaPape. The official story goes, he was from British Columbia, Canada and came to the US 20 years ago and was estranged from his family. The New York Post stated that “Teresa DePape, married to the suspect’s stepfather, told USA Today he had “strong opinions,” adding: “I didn’t know David to be a violent person. But he was an aggressive speaker.”
In 2013, local news outlet, SFGATE reported on a certain Gypsy Taub who was described as a Russian-born ‘nudity activist’. The article goes on to document how being arrested due to her public nudity was a common occurrence for Taub and that at the time she was hoping to avoid it on this occasion as she was planning on getting married to Jaymz Smith. The couple were successful.
In the article, Mr DaPape receives a mention when they explain that “Taub and Smith, plus her three kids, live in an upstairs Berkeley Victorian flat that is perpetually freezing, and they can always use another blanket. There are three bedrooms and six people if you count David DePape, a hemp jewelry maker and father figure who will double as best man.”
Was David DaPape Known To Mr Pelosi?
New information surfaced in the following house purporting to be the police dispatch chatter. In the recording, the officers mention that Mr Pelosi had said that the individual was a friend and that it was his intention to wait until his wife (House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi) returned home.
It is also reported that when the police entered the building, both Mr Pelosi and Mr DaPape were holding the hammer. Once the police arrived, Mr Pelosi let go and Mr DaPape preceded to strike Mr Pelosi around the head. It has been reported that Mr DaPape was in his underwear at the time of his arrest and allegedly was in possession of a list of other politicians and an ‘anti-government manifesto’.
Later, officials explained that the use of “my friend” and “waiting for my wife” was in fact Mr Pelosies safe words.
What Do We Know About David DaPape’s Views?
Not much more is known about Mr DaPape’s views other than the information cited above. However, one piece which is being heavily leant into is two sites Mr DaPape allegedly owned and operated. One site frenlyfrens.com (since removed but archived) was described as a far-right blog which hosted many ‘conspiracy theories’. The official narrative was that this individual was a QAnon follower.
In what seems to stand in stark contrast to the character described above, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Public safety and investigative for NBC in the Bay Area, tweeted an image of the home which DaPape allegedly shared with Taub, her husband, and their three children.
We can see that there are many elements in this image which are antithetical to the beliefs expressed on the site Mr DaPape allegedly owned.
Inconsistencies
There are many elements to this story that don’t add up. The following is pure speculation on my part and I could be creating inaccurate links based on accurate data points. Nonetheless, let me explain.
Suspect
Mr DaPape is an interesting character not least because there seems to be no online presence for him after the 2013 wedding. It does strike me as odd that an individual who was described as having “strong opinions” and an “aggressive speaker” and would publicly tout his tribal affiliations (see the decorations on his alleged abode) would not have any more recent images discoverable online.
All of the accounts of Mr DaPape from family members have been historical, meaning that none of these character profiles are recent. The family in Canada insinuated that they had not heard from him since he moved to the US 20 years ago, and the reports from Taub’s daughter, Inti Gonzalez, about childhood abuse, were historical.
This begs the question, where was Mr DaPape in the intervening time?
Websites
A simple inspection of the site provides some interesting observations. Firstly, every post is behind a paywall. There is the option of becoming a free subscriber to gain access or paying $1,000,000. While this is now unavailable, it is a convenient way of creating the illusion that there is content there in the first place.
Another interesting point is that according to the WhoIs data on the site, it was registered as recently as 9th August 2022. However, many of the posts predate the site creation meaning that posts had been manually backdated.
The site registrant data was curiously not concealed which is what one might expect from an ‘anti-government conspiracy theorist’. That being said, the address listed on the registration is not the Berkley address, but instead one in Richmond CA. Given that family members admitted that they had not had contact with him in some time and that the site was registered in August, it would be safe to assume that this was his residence at the time of the incident.
Some simple digging into this address (which is incorrectly listed as AL rather than CA) got a hit for Malcolm Lubliner. Lubliner is a photographer and on his official website, the address in the registry data above is listed as his place of residence at the bottom of his resume page.
Official Narrative
At the press conference on 10/28, Chief Bill Scott of the SFPD gave a brief statement on the incident. What was interesting was the phrasing used and what it tells us about what transpired.
Chief Scott would go on to explain that officers conducted what he called an “A-priority wellbeing check” at 2:27. For those new to this term, here is how the LASD defines it:
While specifically worded around pandemic concerns, it is clear that this is a process that is triggered by a tip-off from a concerned third party. This would suggest Mr Pelosi had not made the call himself. It is unclear who made the initial call.
What we do know, however, is that on the recordings of the police dispatch, officers can be heard stating that Mr Pelosi had informed police that the other individual was a friend and that he was waiting for his wife to return.
Chief Scott said that “when the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mr Pelosi’s husband, Paul.” one can only assume that Cheif Scott meant to say “Mrs Pelosi’s husband, Paul” and that this wasn’t an unfortunate Freudian slip. Officers allegedly ‘observed’ both of them and only intervened after Mr DaPape struck Mr Pelosi with the hammer. What remains unclear is the situation surrounding this moment. Was there a struggle? Was it just one hammer? It is hard to believe that if Mr DaPape had a weapon in his hand and that the comment by Mr Pelosi that Mr DaPape was a ‘friend’ was actually a codeword for danger, that the police would have just stood there until Mr DaPape had struck Mr Pelosi.
While many outlets are disseminating the narrative that Mr DaPape had reportedly shouted “Where’s Nancy”, this was not mentioned in the press briefing. In addition to this, the official media and political narrative are already in hyperdrive painting this as a right-wing insurrectionist looking to assassinate political foes. Again, Chief Scott was clear when he said that there was as yet no clear motive nor any information regarding the alleged ‘hit list’ of other politicians or the ‘anti-government manifesto’. This is not to say that these do not exist, but rather that the media seeming to be well ahead of the official police narrative does not look good for either.
Mr DePapeThe charges were interesting, specifically the one for ‘elder abuse’. Below is the LASD definition. Key to point out that this could mean that the individual had some known duty of care toward Mr Pelosi, or put simply, they knew each other.
That being said, Penal Code 368 PC does have some flexibility around the relationship of the abuser.
We still do not have an official explanation of how Mr DePape entered the property. The image above allegedly shows a smashed window. Is it normal for glass to fall on the side of impact?
Chief Scott did not take any questions following the cessation of the press briefing.
Nothing New?
Mr Pelosi is not new to public controversy as it was only back in May that he was involved in a serious car crash and charged with a DUI. What perked my interest in bringing this up was the fact that Mr Pelosi attempted to put pressure on the police to keep quiet. Interestingly the website allegedly owned by David DaPape was registered only a few days prior to Mr Pelosi being sentenced.
There are plenty of unanswered questions around this case, also. Jesse Watters highlights the peculiarity of there being a witness on site in the middle of the night. Many have speculated that this individual could have been an intentionally undisclosed passenger in Mr Pelosi’s vehicle.
Either way, there are still so many unknowns. However, what is certain is there is much we may never know. Both possibilities are equally bleak.
Either Mr Pelosi is a known liability protected by the powers that be and cleanup operations are a regular occurrence, or this is in fact a random person who ascribes so some odd beliefs and thus will be used as a weapon against all on the right fighting legitimate issues. Time will tell, but the media can only ride both stories simultaneously for so long. Keep your eyes on this story and never stop asking questions.
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