Lib Outlet Bemoans 'Baseless Claims' About Pelosi Attack, Then Someone Noticed Where 'Claims' Came From
Let me be the first to say that I know nothing about the Friday attack on Paul Pelosi at the San Francisco house he shares with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, his wife.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even want to know. That said, the bizarre incident is already being used as a political cudgel by Democrats who never let a good attempted murder go to waste. Thus, it’s more than a little relevant if some of the details don’t particularly add up — especially if those details make this look less like something inspired by those perfidious “MAGA Republicans” and more like the peculiar, unnerving result of policies that have allowed crime, drug abuse and mental illness to fester in the City by the Bay.
Ask questions, however, and watch the left wring their hands. Take left-of-center outlet Politico, which sounded the alarm in a Monday report: “Prominent conservatives share online disinformation about Paul Pelosi assault.”
“Even as Republican leaders condemn the brutal assault on Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s husband, other GOP figures are broadcasting a much different message on social media — at turns downplaying, mocking and trading in disinformation about the attack,” Politico’s Adam Wren wrote.
This “misinformation” included a retweet by Donald Trump Jr. featuring a “Paul Pelosi” Halloween costume (underwear and a hammer — not really “misinformation” so much as it was questionable-ish taste) and a deleted tweet from GOP Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, who said alleged attacker David DePape was a “male nudist hippie prostitute.”
Wren dubbed this “a false anti-LGBTQ conspiracy,” and it’s worth noting the “prostitute” part of this was from a report from an obscure source called the Santa Monica Observer with a history of dubious claims, according to CNN. Like so much of the other “misinformation” here, this was more the fog of early reporting, which tended toward vague and contradictory details from a number of angles, even when it didn’t come from dubitable sources — hardly a “conspiracy.”
“Beyond Trump Jr. and Higgins, pro-Trump commentators from Charlie Kirk to former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. also weighed in online to raise questions about the investigation based on unfounded and false claims,” Wren continued.
“Among those baseless claims: that a third person answered the door when police arrived at the Pelosi home, which San Francisco law enforcement has said is untrue and that DePape was in his underwear when apprehended, a falsehood taken from a since-corrected local news report.”
Again, that’s some curious language by Mr. Wren. If there was “a since-corrected local news report” that DePape was in his underwear when he was arrested, that’s hardly a “baseless” claim; it was based upon “a since-corrected local news report,” as he noted. As it turns out, the first “baseless” claim cited by Wren could also be gleaned from reports by certain outlets.
Including, uh, Politico, as Spectator World contributing editor and conservative Twitter personality Stephen L. Miller noted:
Seriously WTF. pic.twitter.com/Aj4Tc1RJ8A
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 31, 2022
This was Politico’s initial report on the attack, including the sequence of events: “Officers arrived at the house, knocked on the front door and were let inside by an unknown person. They discovered DePape and Pelosi struggling for a hammer, and after they instructed them to drop the weapon, [San Francisco Police Chief Bill] Scott said, DePape took the hammer and ‘violently attacked’ Pelosi.” [Emphasis mine.]
Here’s that paragraph in an updated version of the story: “David DePape forced his way into the home through a back entrance, Scott said. The police chief said Friday that officers arrived at the house and entered through the front door, which someone — they didn’t specify who — opened from the inside. They discovered DePape and Pelosi struggling in the entryway for a hammer, and after they instructed them to drop the weapon, Scott said, DePape took the hammer and ‘violently attacked’ Pelosi.” [Again, emphasis mine.]
Most reasonable people, reading the story as it was first written, would assume that if police “were let inside by an unknown person” and subsequently “discovered DePape and Pelosi struggling for a hammer,” the person who let them in wasn’t Pelosi or DePape, given that one doesn’t typically have the physical bandwidth to open a door while engaged in a struggle for a hammer with an attacker. That’s not exactly a logical leap the way that it was reported.
Furthermore, those who were at the Friday media briefing the San Francisco Police Department gave about the Pelosi attack said that police “seemed to indicate there was a third person inside the home who opened the door” and clarified this over the weekend.
MORE: The SFPD also says that there were only TWO people inside the Pelosi home (Paul Pelosi and DePape) when they responded, clarifying statements made at Friday’s press conference which seemed to indicate there was a third person inside the home who opened the door. (2/2)
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 30, 2022
Now, one could argue that those who read Politico’s initial report on the matter read too much between the lines. Or, one could argue that Politico’s initial reporting was poorly written given the facts they had. Both could be true.
But a “baseless claim?” No, those who thought this likely based it on numerous reports which indicated a third individual was in the home.
This ordinarily wouldn’t be a hill anyone should be willing to die on — except for the fact that there’s plenty of Democrats who are jumping to connect the attack to the Republican Party with the midterms just a week away, including Hillary Clinton:
The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow.https://t.co/MQor4NDFeE
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 29, 2022
Is there enough information for Clinton to deduce that this attack was “the result” of Republican rhetoric? Of course not. From what we know about DePape, it seems he had long been a sick puppy and hardly needed what the former first lady deems “hate and deranged conspiracy theories” from the GOP to spur him to attack Pelosi.
Yet, nobody seems terribly concerned about “misinformation” from Hillary Clinton or anyone else on the left, least of all Politico’s Adam Wren. If, however, he’s not going to include her in his article about the Pelosi assault, he should at least start reading his own publication before calling something a “baseless claim.” He won’t have to look that hard to find where it originated.
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