(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that the San Francisco district attorney refused to provide documents and video of the police activity at the home of Paul Pelosi, husband of the Speaker of the House, where David Wayne DePape was arrested following an alleged assault on October 28, 2022.
Among the items District Attorney Brooke Jenkins refused to release are a recording of Paul Pelosi’s 911 call and police officers’ body camera footage. Nikki Moore, assistant district attorney, took the unusual step of providing some details about the incidentresponse to Judicial Watch’s California Public Records Act request:
The two persons present at the Pelosi home when the SFPD arrived where [sic] Mr. Pelosi and Mr. DePape. Please see the online posted document that reflects that Mr. Pelosi was the only person in the home at the time of the attack. Seehttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/01/us/david-de-pape-motion-to-detain.html. You can obtain an official copy of this court record from the Superior Court.
In its November 2022 request to the district attorney, Judicial Watch noted a news report stating that news organizations had been rebuffed on similar requests and, pursuant to the California Public Records Act, asked for, in addition to the recording and camera footage: All records of communications, including emails and text messages, between the SFDAO [San Francisco District Attorney’s Office] and the San Francisco Police Department concerning the incident. It also asked for communications with several federal agencies, including the Justice Department, the Capitol Police, and the FBI. Judicial Watch also asked for the identities of the persons at the Pelosi home at the time of the incident.
In declining the information requested, Assistant DA Moore cited Section 6254, governing records requests, and specifically subsection (f), which allows for the withholding from the public of certain “records of investigations conducted by the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, the Office of Emergency Services and any state or local police agency …”
“There is significant public interest in the terrible attack on Paul Pelosi and it is odd that the local authorities are withholding basic information about the incident,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
In September, Judicial Watch received records from the California Highway Patrol Public Records Unit that included 44 photos and five hours of audio/video footage depicting the misconduct and arrest of Paul Pelosi. The material shows that Mr. Pelosi invoked his wife’s name and shared his police charity membership during the arrest for suspected alcohol intoxication while driving.
