No, the Paul Pelosi attack wasn’t a ‘false flag’

On Oct. 28, Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked in the couple’s San Francisco home, local and federal authorities said.

David DePape, 42, is accused of breaking into the house and hitting Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer. DePape faces a slew of state and federal criminal charges, including attempted murder and attempted kidnapping. Paul Pelosi, meanwhile, was hospitalized after "waking up in a pool of his own blood" and underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his arms and hands, according to Nancy Pelosi’s office and court filings. 

Some people are unbelieving of these events, claiming everything from a conspiracy to a fabrication. One recent Instagram post suggests the whole thing was made up to distract Americans from an attempt to steal midterm election contests.

It shared a picture of President Joe Biden delivering a Nov. 2 speech about democracy, during which he discussed Paul Pelosi’s attack. 

"The fake Pelosi story he’s talking about isn’t getting traction," the post said. "We know what a false flag looks like. The old magic of creating fear and emotion doesn’t work anymore. But they will try anything on election day anyway."

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on October 26, 2024 in a Threads post

Four Florida counties had “zero results” Oct. 26, and “something underhanded might be happening.”

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Claims that this attack was a false flag are baseless.

Publicly released audio captured police dispatchers describing the incident as they spoke with Pelosi after he secretly called 911 from a bathroom in his home. U.S. Capitol Police officers, who monitor security camera footage from the Pelosi home there, saw a man with a hammer breaking a glass door panel and breaking into the residence, the Washington Post reported. San Francisco police arrested DePape after officers who arrived on scene said they witnessed DePape hit Pelosi on the head with a hammer. Officials with that department, the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, and the U.S. Justice Department have spoken publicly about the case authorities are building against DePape. State and federal court filings detail that case and the incident behind it. 

We rate claims this is a false flag Pants on Fire!