Pelosi's CA home hadn't received security review in four years before attack on husband

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's California home had not received a proper security review in over 4 years prior to an October home invasion in which a violent intruder struck her husband, Paul, with a hammer.

On Oct. 28 of this year, David DePape allegedly stormed Pelosi's San Francisco home, seeking the House speaker but instead finding only Paul. Police arrived in time to witness the intruder strike Pelosi in the head with a hammer. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since confirmed that DePape is a long-time visa overstay, having entered the United States roughly 20 years ago on a now-expired visa.

United States Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger told CNN in a Tuesday interview that "[a]nytime there's a change in leadership position, we will do an updated assessment." In this case, Pelosi reclaimed the speaker's gavel after Democrats won a majority in the 2018 midterm contests.

Manger then highlighted the rising level of violent threats against political leaders in an increasingly polarized society and said such developments merited greater security.

"We had more folks focused on her safety than any other member of Congress because of the number of threats that [Pelosi] had," he said. "The level of violence in our country directed toward political officials, government officials, it's really at a point where I think that it's as dangerous as it's ever been to be an elected official."

He went on, however, to assert that Capitol Police could not unilaterally address the mounting problem, saying "[i]t's just the sheer volume of what we're dealing with now versus what we dealt with years ago."

"I'm not so sure that the Capitol Police can do a lot to tamp that down. So our responsibility is we've just got to deal with the growing number," he concluded.