(NewsNation) — There are new developments in the political attack on Paul Pelosi. Well, not really. It just depends on where you get your news. Viewers of Sean Hannity’s show Wednesday night learned about new “twists and turns.”
“Another twist and turn in the case of Paul Pelosi’s alleged attacker. As local media in San Francisco is reporting — NBC as a matter of fact — that it was Paul Pelosi, not police, who opened the door the night of that hammer attack and that Paul Pelosi did not appear to be in any immediate danger when the police first arrived. Now, that directly conflicts with filings from the Department of Justice but matches up with statements from the San Francisco DA’s Office,” Hannity said.
Wait, what? Rather than just accept that some nut broke into the Pelosi home to try to attack Nancy, some in the far right wing media continue to try to suggest there’s more to the story. That they, whoever that is, won’t tell us, that there’s a real cover-up, a massive one, going on.
That breathless introduction was based on a Bay Area report from someone who claims to have viewed the body cam footage from officers who arrived at the scene and apprehended the assailant. Okay, Paul Pelosi opened the door, the police opened the door at the conflict. Everyone in law enforcement is saying the same thing: That this guy targeted Nancy Pelosi because of who she is and what she stands for, that Paul Pelosi didn’t know his attacker.
We know that Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home at 2 a.m. suffered a skull fracture from being hit in the head with a hammer and spent nearly a week recovering in a San Francisco hospital. We know the assailant had posted numerous unhinged conspiracy theories on his blog, and even admitted to the police that he was intending to kneecap Nancy Pelosi because he hated her politics and thought she was a liar.
So there’s a discrepancy between the Department of Justice report on the attack and what the San Francisco DA reported about exactly how the police gained entry. That’s really only relevant if you’re looking for a conspiracy, or more to the point, looking to create doubt surrounding the facts as all of law enforcement have laid it out.
Now, a Today Show report has become another focus for the far right since the reporter, NBC’s Miguel Almaguer, was suspended for this report from Nov. 4.
“After a knock and announce, the front door was opened by Mr. Pelosi. The 82-year-old did not immediately declare an emergency or try to leave his home, but instead began walking several feet back into the foyer, toward the assailant and away from police,” Almaguer reported.
NBC News took down that report from their website with a note that read, “The piece should not have aired because it did not meet NBC News reporting standards.”
According to reporting by mediaite.com, a site that I founded, an NBC source said, “The segment was removed after it was determined the main source for the information was unreliable regarding the circumstances the police encountered when they arrived at the house, specifically what the police saw and how far the attacker was from the door.”
Look, I have no idea whether he should have been suspended because I don’t know what his faulty source was or wasn’t. But that’s just an inside the media story.
But on Fox News, the whole story just isn’t adding up.
“I’m glad he’s going to be OK. The speaker needs Secret Service protection. But if you’re about to be attacked, why wouldn’t you run out the door? That question needs to be answered,” Hannity said.
No one in any law enforcement agency, and I mean no one, has suggested that Paul Pelosi knew the guy or was to blame for not running away. Saying we need to know why the victim did or didn’t do something makes no sense, unless you’re just trying to stir up conspiracies.
Bottom line, Paul Pelosi was a victim of brute political attack and suffered a fractured skull.
I don’t really care which side of the political aisle the attacker was on. I don’t really care how he was able to call 911, and I certainly don’t care whether Paul Pelosi or the police opened the door. I mean, these are interesting details. But they don’t change anything about what happened.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not of NewsNation.