San Francisco Police Chief William Scott strongly denounced the conspiracy theories that were spreading online egarding the assault on Paul Pelosi in an interview with CNN Newsroom anchor Ana Cabrera on Monday.

David DePape was arrested for allegedly breaking into the Pelosis’ home and attacking the 82-year-old husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with a hammer.

DePape was reportedly shouting “Where is Nancy?” and had brought with him duct tape and zip ties. His blog posts complained about a long list of grievances commonly associated with former President Donald Trump and his supporters, including denouncing the Jan. 6 committee, conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines,  and content supportive of QAnon. Since the attack, various conspiracy theories about the attack have spread online, mostly promoted by right-wing media figures — as well as new Twitter owner Elon Musk.

Cabrera asked Scott about the status of the investigation and whether police had determined a motive yet.

Scott replied that they “don’t want to jump out of the gate with so many things left to investigate” or “make premature statements and learn something that may be different to what we know now,” but did acknowledge that they “have some ideas.”

“Is political rhetoric to blame, perhaps?” asked Cabrera.

Scott replied that it was a “very, very sad state of affairs with all the rhetoric that’s out there, conspiracy theories that are out
there.”

The police had “spent a lot of energy just pushing back” on “really ridiculous conspiracy theories,” he continued. “These things are harmful to society, they’re harmful to the victims involved, they are just — it’s really sad that we are here in this place, but we are.”

“Obviously, there’s a political undertone on this,” Scott said, but prosecutors had asked them to not “get ahead of ourselves in terms of releasing information” prematurely, and they were committed to working together as a “team” and were onboard with that.

Cabrera asked Scott about the conspiracy theories that had come up about the attack. “Can you clear it up once and for all — did Paul Pelosi know his attacker?” she asked.

“There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man,” Scott said emphatically.

He continued:

As a matter of fact, the evidence indicates the exact opposite. And again, this is — it really is sad that these theories are being floated out there, baseless, factless theories that are being floated out there. And they’re damaging. They’re damaging to the people involved. They’re damaging to this investigation.

And you know, people are running with this stuff. Whether they believe it or not, these theories can influence the way people think about everything that’s happening here. So I will be clear on this — there is absolutely no evidence of that at all. No evidence that he knew him. As a matter of fact, to the contrary.

Scott confirmed that Pelosi had called 911 from inside the house, but added that they were not releasing that call at this point in this investigation.

“Elected officials have a hard enough job as it is,” Scott added, criticizing how politicians’ families were being put at risk. “It’s wrong, and it needs to stop…these families aren’t in office, and even if they were, nobody deserves to have a violent assault and attack because they’re doing their jobs.”

“We can all disagree,” said Scott but “we need some civility here.” He called the conspiracy theories “pathetic” and “disturbing” and asked rhetorically what it would take to get people to stop promoting such “nonsense” — “Does it take somebody being murdered?”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

The post San Francisco Police Chief Smacks Down Pelosi Attack Theories: ‘Absolutely No Evidence That Mr. Pelosi Knew This Man’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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