Speaking on MSNBC, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Republicans are hypocritical for complaining about high crime rates during the midterm election season while not seeming "too bothered" by the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi, who survived after being repeatedly struck with a hammer during a home invasion.
Clinton told host Joy Reid that the midterm election cycle has been full of "ads by Republicans running for everything touting crime" but that the GOP has remained largely silent "when an 82-year-old man is attacked by an intruder in his own home."
You can hear what Clinton said in the video below.
Clinton said:
"This midterm election we've seen a lot of ads by Republicans running for everything touting crime. Crime is the issue."
"But when an 82-year-old man is attacked by an intruder in his own home they don't seem to be too bothered by that because that person is married to the Speaker of the House who's of a different political party."
"I would just like your [Reid's] viewers, and really, I would like every American just to stop and think about that."
"This is the kind of violent rhetoric that leads to violent action that props up authoritarians and that's unfortunately what we see the Republican Party today supporting."
Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer at the couple's residence in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California on October 28. He was seriously injured and underwent surgery for a fractured skull; his doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
David DePape, a 42-year-old California man, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted homicide and other felonies. He had intended to harm Speaker Pelosi and yelled, "Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?" during the attack, according to police who arrested DePape at the scene.
DePape had embraced far-right political conspiracy theories including QAnon, Pizzagate, ideas related to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, and Holocaust denial.
Authorities have confirmed that DePape will be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, and burglary.
In the aftermath of the attack, prominent Republicans—such as former California Republican Representative Devin Nunes—have made light of it.
Nunes—who resigned from Congress to take the helm of Truth Social, former Republican President Donald Trump's social media platform—sparked outrage after he responded to the attack by posting a photo of a man in a monster costume wielding a giant mallet to his followers, commenting that "at least this guy has his clothes on."
Many concurred with Clinton's assessment.
Clinton also addressed the controversy that erupted after Elon Musk—fresh off acquiring Twitter—posted and ultimately deleted a conspiracy theory about the attack in response to a post she had made condemning it.
Shortly after the attack, Clinton posted a Los Angeles Times article about it and denounced the Republican Party "and its mouthpieces [who] now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories."
As if to prove Clinton's point, Musk replied that there might be "a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye," attaching a link to an article from the far-right Santa Monica Observer claiming that Pelosi was attacked by a lover he met at a bar in the middle of the night.
There is no truth to that allegation, and local authorities confirmed that Pelosi and his attacker did not know each other.
Clinton told MSNBC that to Musk's credit, he did delete the post, an action that lies in stark contrast to "Republicans running for the Congress or governors or many other positions" who have not.
