Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade offered an astonishing dismissal on Thursday of the apparently politically-motivated attack on Paul Pelosi, whose attacker allegedly asked “Where is Nancy” and aimed to take the House speaker hostage.
“You bring up Donald Trump, January 6th and Paul Pelosi and saying they heard the words ‘Where’s Nancy?’” Kilmeade said on “Fox & Friends” in response to President Joe Biden’s Wednesday night speech about democracy in danger.
“That’s the same thing the FedEx guy says when he needs a signature,” Kilmeade continued. “‘Where’s Nancy’ is nothing perilous. That’s what you do when you are looking for Nancy.”
The man who attacked Paul Pelosi did aim to find House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), law enforcement alleged. She was not home at the time. Authorities said the suspect told police he wanted to break the speaker’s kneecaps and that he viewed her as “the ‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party.”
Online posts under the name of the suspect, David DePape, include rambling writings citing QAnon conspiracy theories, questioning the results of the 2020 election and defending former President Donald Trump.
Kilmeade said the attack had “nothing to do with” Trump and “everything to do with the crime in San Francisco and the illegal immigrants who overstayed their visa,” echoing how Trump and other Republicans have tried to spin the attack.
DePape, a Canadian national who had been living in the Bay Area for two decades, did not have legal authorization to be in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In a televised address Wednesday night, Biden urged voters to reject his predecessor’s extremist values and “big lie” rhetoric and work to defend democracy amid political violence and voter intimidation efforts.
He started the speech by recounting the violent attack on Paul Pelosi inside the couple’s San Francisco home. In the early hours of Friday morning, DePape allegedly woke the 82-year-old at his bedside, carrying a hammer, zip ties and other items, and demanded to know where his wife was, according to court documents.
“‘Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?’” Biden quoted in his address. “Those are the very same words used by the mob when they stormed the United States Capitol on January the 6th, when they broke windows, kicked in the doors, brutally attacked law enforcement, roamed the corridors hunting for officials and erected gallows to hang the former vice president, Mike Pence.”
Conservatives have been up in arms over accusations that inflammatory and false right-wing rhetoric helped inspire the attack on Pelosi. And Fox News hosts have repeatedly flirted with the litany of far-right conspiracy theories casting doubt on or shifting blame for the incident, raising questions that were already answered by Justice Department charging documents.
DePape was charged with numerous state and federal crimes, including assault, attempted murder and attempted kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to all state charges. He has not yet entered a plea in federal court.
Paul Pelosi remains hospitalized after surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.