Former President Donald Trump finally broke silence on the brutal hammer attack targeting Paul Pelosi, who is married to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump, a Republican, addressed the assault at the Pelosis’ San Francisco house while talking about the rising crime rates in what he called “Democrat-run cities," reported New York Post.
In an interview with the conservative Spanish-language network Americano Media, Trump said that with Paul, that’s a "terrible thing, and with all of them, that’s a terrible thing." He pointed out at what happened to "San Francisco generally," and "what’s happening in Chicago. It was far worse than Afghanistan."
A 42-year-old suspect, David DePape, was arrested Friday for allegedly breaking into the Pelosis’ house and hitting Paul, 82, in the head with a hammer. At the time of the attack, Nancy was in Washington, DC. Paul, who underwent surgery to repair fractures to his skull, is expected to fully recover.
According to police, DePape faces charges of attempted murder, elder abuse, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, and additional felonies.
During Friday’s interview at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he was asked about the incident involving Paul in the greater context of rising crime rates across the U.S. The former President said that these "people are crazy." He was referring to Illinois lawmakers who passed a controversial law in 2021 that abolishes cash bail. It goes into effect next year.
He noted that they’re going to release "stone-cold killers from jails, nobody knows why. I mean, they need room, or something.”
As part of the “Safe-T” Act, on Jan. 1, 2023, Illinois will end cash bail. It passed last year in response to nationwide protests against police brutality.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Chris Coons on Sunday called out Trump for his silence on the attack against Paul, reported The Hill. Coons said that President Joe Biden and Democrats have stood behind "law enforcement and strengthening protections for those in public life." He added that’s what he thought they should be "focusing on in this moment, when leaders of both parties, but so far not Trump, have decried" the attack on Paul on Friday.
Coons told that everyone in the wake of this attack, need to say that "we are going to stop demonizing folks." According to him, those "kinds of... the sort of rhetoric that we’ve heard in too many ways in too many places can lead to violence by a small number of Americans who think that, when we describe our political opponents as our enemies, we’re calling for them to be attacked."
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