Dave DePape, the suspect arrested in connection to the hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband in their San Francisco home, grew increasingly obsessed with conspiracy theories over the last few years, according to his current boss.
DePape, 42, was arrested last week after he allegedly broke into the couple's mansion intending to tie up Pelosi and break her kneecaps, but found only her 82-year-old husband.
He was ordered to be held in custody after he pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges during his arraignment Tuesday at a San Francisco court.
In new court filings, state prosecutors said DePape told police he was sick of "lies coming out of Washington" and had "named several targets, including a local professor, several prominent state and federal politicians" as well as their relatives.
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"I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission," DePape allegedly told officers at the scene of his arrest, referring to Paul Pelosi.
Frank Ciccarelli, a carpenter in Berkeley, California, told The New York Times that if you started a conversation with DePape about politics, "it was all over."
"Because he really believed in the whole MAGA, 'Pizzagate,' stolen election — you know, all of it, all the way down the line. If you go to Fox News, if you go on the internet and you look at QAnon, you know, he had all these theories," Ciccarelli said.
Speaking to the Times, Ciccarelli said that once DePape was able to find a place to live, he had much more time to spend on the computer, which caused him to grow more isolated and work less.
"He was completely caught up in the fantasy, in the MAGA fantasy," Ciccarelli said.
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Speaking outside the courthouse, DePape's court-appointed lawyer Adam Lipson said the defense team would be looking into the swirling untruths that may have influenced his client.
"There's also been a lot of speculation regarding Mr. DePape's vulnerability to misinformation and that is certainly something that we are going to look into," he told reporters.
"We are going to be doing a comprehensive investigation of what happened," he said, adding: "We're going to be looking into Mr. DePape's mental state."
In an earlier court affidavit filed Monday, the FBI said DePape intended to hold Pelosi -- who is second in line to the US presidency after the vice president -- hostage and talk to her.
"If Nancy were to tell DePape the 'truth,' he would let her go, and if she 'lied,' he was going to break 'her kneecaps,'" the affidavit said.
Nancy Pelosi was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack.
Following the attack, Paul Pelosi was sent to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.
Late Monday Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying her husband faced "a long recovery process."
The suspect faces charges on both a state and a federal level.
DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, and threats to a public official and their family.
Federal authorities on Monday charged DePape with attempting to kidnap a US official and assaulting her family member.
With additional reporting by AFP
