In her first interview since the attack on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the moment she first learned about the assault on her husband at their home in San Francisco.

What You Need To Know

  • In an interview, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the moment she first learned about the attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi

  • Pelosi's husband, Paul, was bludgeoned with a hammer 11 days before the election by an intruder; Authorities said the suspect broke into the family's San Francisco and was looking for the speaker before striking the 82-year-old in the head at least once

  • Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in what authorities said was a intentional political attack

  • Amid speculation about her retirement, Pelosi confirmed that the attack on her husband will play a role in her decision

Pelosi told CNN's Anderson Cooper that she "was asleep" in Washington after having just returned from San Francisco the night before. All of a sudden, she said, she heard the doorbell ring.

"I hear the doorbell ring and think, 'It's five-something,' I look up I see it's five [a.m. ET]," Pelosi said, adding she believed someone "must be at the wrong apartment."

Then the doorbell rang again, and then Pelosi heard a "bang, bang, bang, bang bang on the door."

“So I run to the door, and I’m very scared,” Pelosi described. “I see the Capitol Police and they say, 'We have to come in to talk to you.'"

Pelosi said her first thoughts went to her children and grandchildren, rather than her husband.

"I’m thinking 'my children, my grandchildren,' she said. "I never thought it would be Paul because, you know, I knew he wouldn’t be out and about, shall we say."

"At that time, we didn't even know where he was, or what his condition was," Pelosi recalled. "We just knew there was an assault on him in our home."

"For me this is the hard part because Paul was not the target, and he’s the one paying the price," she added.

Pelosi's husband, Paul, was bludgeoned with a hammer 11 days before the election by an intruder. Authorities said the suspect broke into the family's San Francisco and was looking for the speaker before striking the 82-year-old in the head at least once.

The intruder told police he wanted to talk to Speaker Pelosi and would “break her kneecaps” as a lesson to other Democrats. Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in what authorities said was a intentional political attack.

David DePape, 42, is being held without bail in San Francisco after entering a not guilty plea to attempted murder and other charges in San Francisco. He also faces federal charges of attempted kidnapping of an elected official.

The fringe activist who followed conspiracy theories broke into the Pelosi home, woke up Paul Pelosi and demanded to talk to “Nancy,” authorities said. When Paul Pelosi told the intruder his wife was out of town, DePape said he would wait. After Paul Pelosi called 911, officers arrived to see the two men struggling over a hammer before DePape struck Paul Pelosi at least once in the head with the hammer.

DePape later told police he wanted to kidnap the speaker and threatened to injure her "to show other members of Congress there were consequences to actions."

When asked what Pelosi wants to say to those who have spread misinformation about the attack on her husband – including former President Donald Trump and new Twitter owner Elon Musk, the speaker declined to address them – but called the spread of false information "really sad for the country."

"It's really sad for the country that people are that high visibility wouldn't separate themselves from the facts and the truth in such a blatant way," she said. " It's really sad and it is traumatizing to those affected by it. They don't care about that, obviously, but it is."

"It's destructive to the unity that we want to have in our country," Pelosi continued, adding: "But I don't have anything to say to them. I mean, we have nothing that there would be no common ground to have any conversation with."

She also decried the heightened political climate and slammed Republicans.

"You see what the reaction is on the other side to this, to make a joke of it, and really that is traumatizing too," Pelosi said. "There is one party that is doubting the outcome of the election, feeding that flame and mocking any violence that happens. That has to stop."

Amid speculation that Pelosi might retire should Democrats lose control of the House of Representateives after Tuesday's miterms, Cooper asked the speaker if she has made a decision about her future.

Pelosi, 82, replied that her "decision will be affected [by] what happened the last week or two." Cooper followed up by asking if the attack on her husband will play a role in her decision.

"Yes," she replied.