Police body camera footage released Friday shows the moment that David DePape attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer after breaking into his San Francisco home in October.
The video shows police arriving at the front door to see both DePape and Pelosi jointly holding onto opposite ends of a hammer.
When the police ask what is going on, DePape responds: “Everything is good.”
Pressed to “drop the hammer,” DePape says “no” before wrestling control of the tool from Pelosi and savagely attacking him, at which point the officers storm forward and tackle the attacker.
Superior Court judge Stephen Murphy ruled Wednesday that the footage taken during and after the attack would be released despite the objections of federal prosecutors.
The footage reportedly includes Capitol Police surveillance cameras and interviews police conducted with David DePape, the alleged attacker. It also consisted of body camera footage from law enforcement officers that responded to the call and visited the Pelosi house in San Francisco in late October 2022.
Over a dozen news organizations including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Fox News, and NBC joined together and filed a collective request to access to the evidence. Thomas Burke, the coalition’s legal counsel, confirmed that the court informed him it “will provide copies to his clients, per the judge’s order.”
"You don't eliminate the public right of access just because of concerns about conspiracy theories," Burke said according to the Associated Press.
In the days after the initial attack on Paul Pelosi, new details emerged that raised questions about what transpired.
“The front door was opened by Mr. Pelosi. He did not declare an emergency or try to leave his home, instead began walking several feet back towards the assailant and away from police," one NBC reporter stated on live television, citing "sources familiar with what unfolded in the Pelosi residence."
Court documents obtained by the same outlet revealed at the time that DePape “calmly greeted” police officers responding to an emergency call to the property and assured them “everything’s good.” Following this exchange with police, DePape and Pelosi began fighting for control of a hammer which Depape ultimately used to strike Pelosi, fracturing his skull.
Hours after the segment aired live on NBC, it was deleted from the Today Show website and an editor's note was appended to the page.
"The piece should not have aired because it did not meet NBC News reporting standards," the editor's note reads.
The official Today Show Twitter account also deleted a tweet promoting the segment.
The retraction came after several prominent social-media users took notice of the strange new details NBC had reported. Several digital outlets, including the Daily Mail, had also aggregated NBC's reporting and cast it in a conspiratorial light.
The news outlets will gain access to the material Thursday.
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