On the eve of the US Midterm elections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seen fighting back tears as she opened up for the time about the attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, after a suspect broke into the family’s house in San Francisco on October 28. 

“I was very scared,” Pelosi told CNN in an interview. “I’m thinking my children, my grandchildren. I never thought it would be Paul.”

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On that ill-fated day, just 11 days before the Midterm Elections, Paul woke up to a hammer-wielding intruder in his bedroom, asking for his wife. He was bludgeoned with the weapon and was forced to lie in a pool of his own blood, after having fractured his skull. 

According to court documents, the suspect, David DePape, 42, of Richmond, California, was on a suicide mission as he threatened to kneecap Nancy and hunt down other unspecified public officials. 

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Nancy revealed that at the time of the attack, she was sleeping at her apartment in Washington, having just returned from San Francisco. At dawn, there was a “bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,” on her door. 

“We didn’t even know where he was or what his condition was,” the politician said. “We just knew there was an assault on him in our home.”

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Ever since the attack on her husband, Pelosi has cut short her campaign appearances. However, she did hold a virtual call with the grassroots activist after her husband was released from the hospital last week. She has also largely reserved the comments about the attack to herself and this is the first time that she has spoken out. 

“People say to me, ‘What can I do to make you feel better?’ I say: ‘Vote!’” Pelosi told those on the call. She seems to be choking on her words when she was asked about how her husband was doing.

“It’s going to be a long haul,” she added. 

DePape has been charged with attempted murder, burglary, and elderly abuse. He is being held at the San Francisco County Jail faces 13 years to life in prison if convicted