optimize insulin levels, and balance the hormones that make weight loss easy. release works with your body, not against it, so you can put dieting behind you and go live your life. head to golo.com now to join the over 2 million people who have found the right way to lose weight and get healthier with golo. good day. i'm chris jansing live in new york city. we start with that breaking news. we are waiting for the san francisco police to hold a press conference regarding the attack on speaker pelosi's husband, paul pelosi. he was assaulted early this morning by a man who had broken into their home looking for nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house. we'll take you live to that press conference as soon as it begins. let's get you up to speed on

what we know about this attack so far. nbc has learned that the man who broke into the home of speaker nancy pelosi and paul pelosi attacked paul with a hammer and was looking for the speaker, confronting him by shouting "where's nancy?" paul pelosi had to be hospitalized after the attack, but he's expected to make a full recovery. ben rhodes served as deputy national security adviser under president obama and is an nbc political contributor. harry lipman is a former deputy assistant attorney general. frank was former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi and an msnbc national security analyst. and basel joins us. frank, i wonder what you're looking for out of this press conference. >> yeah. we're going to want to see

confirmation that as nbc news that reported that the assailant was seeking nancy pelosi. why is that significant? it's significant with regard to who will lead the investigation and prosecute it. at the point that law enforcement understands that that was the motive, assaulting nancy pelosi, this will very likely become a federal investigation. the fbi will take the lead and a federal prosecution with the u.s. attorney's office taking the lead. title 18 section 118 covers assaults on federal officials and their family members if the motive is to intimidate, coerce or retaliate against the official's position and action. this won't be hard to prove. showing that the person was shouting where's nancy and showing that the defendant had in hisocket the pelosi address or used gps navigation to locate the specific address or looked up things on his computer or devices and is aligned with

anti-pelosi thought. all of that will play in here. that's what i'll be looking for. >> jake sherman joins us as well. what are you hearing from your sources? >> pelosi was in washington, d.c. she has -- it's important to set the stage here. she has a full security detail. she's second in line to the president after the vice president of the united states. paul pelosi is not treated like the first lady or the second gentleman. he doesn't have a full suite of security officials with him at all times. pelosi was again in washington. this is the latest in a long line of threats and attempts to intimidate, threaten or hurt members of congress and their families. we've seen this, you know, countless times post january 6th. the united states capitol police has gone as far as to open field offices in states like

california and florida to better respond and understand threats to members of congress and their family. i imagine -- i think that the united states capitol police and officials in the capitol will re-examine security for members of congress and their families, for high-ranking members of congress. this is something that shocked a lot of people in washington. paul pelosi is a fixture in d.c. so this has shocked the conscience of capitol hill. >> can we talk about the shock of this and about where we are? i was thinking when this happened, i knew you were already booked to be on the show, of when an intruder breached not only the fence of the white house while you were serving there as deputy national security adviser but also got into the white house. i wonder what your emotional

reaction was when you heard this had happened. >> the really sad thing is is there is shock when you get this news, and it recalled to me the news of gabby giffords being shot several years ago. what's so troubling about this, it shouldn't be shocking. we've been living through a period of really vicious incitement and radicalization in our politics. i think about this from my old position as a national security official where what we were dealing with in the united states often was radicalized individuals, individuals who succumb to radical ideologies, whether it came from isis or somewhere else and committing acts of violence. i think we have to reckon with the fact that when you have this constant barrage of incitement, dehumanization and conspiracy theories about public officials, it leads fairly directly to this kind of incident. that was my reaction, concern

obviously for paul pelosi, who is a real fixture and a beloved figure in many corners of washington and san francisco, but beyond that, where are we going? there's no reason to believe that this is the last time something like this might happen. obviously there's the short fix of getting more security for these members and for public officials, but we've seen kidnapping plots in michigan, january 6th, we've seen bombs mailed, we've seen people drive vans up to washington. there is a lot of warning signs. i think we have to reckon with the rally we're not detoxifying the recourse around public officials, there's no reason to believe there won't be more incidents like this. you think what if she was there? what if she was in the room? what would have happened? it takes some luck to avoid the worst-case outcomes here. >> i will put up a graphic.

you asked where we're going. these are threats against members of congress. in 2020 alone, 8,613. 9,625 in 2021. it's been a steady increase since 2017. what are we looking at here, ben? i think we're looking at the discourse around politics is no longer about differences. nancy pelosi has been attacked for many years, but it's one thing 15 years ago when those attacks are about she's a tax and spend san francisco liberal. that's not the kind of thing that might motivate someone to commit violence. where we are today is these people are a threat to our way of life, these people are radicals, these people are engaged in a conspiracy theory. when you move into that space -- and i've seen this in other instances of radicalization around the world that leads to

violence, when it becomes existential to people, when we're told someone is a threat to your very identity and the deepest held beliefs you have, that's when we have this uptick in threats, you can trace very directly the radical election of the last five years to where we are today. there's way too much tolerance of this stuff. there's way too much dismissing of things. often what happens is there's a shock when an event like this happens, but two weeks later people are asked about it and they say that's some nut case, we're moving on. no. this is an isolated individual most likely, we'll learn more from the press conference as to whether he had any accomplices or support, but we have to recognize the phenomenon producing this incident is not going away, indeed it's getting worse. it's directly tied to the way in

which people are living in information systems in this country that radicalize them to commit acts of violence. it's incitement and incitement leads to what we're seeing here. >> when you look at the numbers, just the sheer numbers, traffic, 435 members of congress and we're approaching maybe 10,000 threats in a single year. how does law enforcement separate what's real, what's not real? obviously you look into everything, but a missed step, a missed judgment, the consequences can be significant. >> a great point. one of the first things that will happen after an incident like this, they'll run the subject's name through all the databases, federal, state, local. i've been a part of things like that. you just cross your fingers, that his name is not already known to you and that you missed something. in this threat environment that you laid out with regard to the

stats, everybody is stretched very thinly. we learned in the aftermath of january 6th that the capitol police are underfunded and grossly understaffed. so you do miss things when that happens. now this extended threat environment well beyond the washington beltway, where field offices are open in the hometowns of the representatives, and there are traveling details increasingly with more and more members of congress, they can't do it all. there has to be increased partnership with the city police departments, with the fbi, with the secret service. they will tell you they are stretched to the max right now. when you talk about the person second in line to the presidency after the vice president, the speaker of the house's residence, thought has to be given to not only increasing that security around the residence but also to expanding more security to high-profile members of congress. >> so, if we can, let's talk a

little bit about what the conversations have been and where you think they're going in terms of capitol hill. ben made a really good point, which is gabby giffords, for a lot of folks, that brought to mind that, but that was -- while she was doing constituent services, she was out in a parking lot, i think about steve scalise, i covered that story. he was in a public place. they were preparing, practicing for the congressional baseball game. then on january 6th they went into members of congress home away from home, they breached the capitol. now they have literally gone into the home of, as you say, the person who is second in line after the president of the united states. tell us where these conversations have been and where you think they're going in light of what happened. >> frank brings up an extremely good point here, the capitol

police is spread exceedingly thin. more members of congress than ever before have capitol police details, people who travel with them inside and outside of washington. there's been a spate of retirements and departures from the capitol police post-january 6th. it's been hard for the force to keep police officers because of what happened on january 6th. that's what police officers tell us all the time. there's been talk going back years, 12 years since the violence in the summer -- relatively minor violence in the summer of 2010, during the pea party rise to power, about giving every member of congress a police detail, not going to happen, but they need more money. they've been cash-strapped, they've been unable to fulfill their duties, not for fault of their own but for fault of not being able to keep officers. i don't know where it goes. that's a very big problem. not only do more people have detailed, now they offer a

service where members of the force will escort any member of congress to washington-dulles, washington national airport when they go home. we're seeing a department stretched thin combined with a rocketing number of threats towards members of congress. it's a dangerous mix. it truly is. by the way, these are not people who only have residencies in one place. these are -- many of these members of congress have residencies in washington and have residencies in their home district. it's very difficult to see how you adequately protect all of these folks with the combined dynamic of just the increasing number of threats. >> all right. we're going to continue to wait for this press conference to start in san francisco. let's go to that city. jake ward has been following all of this as it's been unfolding. jake what can you tell us? >> well, at this hour, we know

that as of 2:27 a.m. pacific time this morning, police responded to the 2600 block behind me, which is the home of nancy and paul pelosi because an intruder was in the home. that intruder, according to sources from the investigation, wielded a hammer and injured paul pelosi, the speaker's husband. he has since been transported to zuckerberg hospital, that's the big trauma center here in the city. he is, at this hour, supposedly in surgery. the extent of his injuries are not yet clear. we're waiting for this press conference where we'll hopefully find out more about the suspect who is in custody. sources do tell us this was a targeted attack. we've also been seeing agents not just of the san francisco police department but also of the capitol police and of the federal bureau of investigation going in and out of the home here. so there seems to be certainly a multi-agency presence here

looking into this. again, we are not sure of the extent of paul pelosi's injuries, all we know is the attacker is in custody and this was a targeted attack against the speaker of the house. >> let me bring in ben collins who just joined me on set and who covers the web for us. we talked about the fact that there's an extraordinary escalation in threats against members of congress. they get phone calls, they get letters. there's all kinds of ways in which threats come in. one thing that you see is the threatening atmosphere online and how that has increased as well. talk a little bit about that. >> yeah, i would say nancy pelosi is public enemy number one. >> yeah. even above joe biden. that's why on january 6th, you know, people were yelling where's nancy, like this attacker was yelling in her home, they think she secretly controls the government. they think she's the through

line of the cabal that connects barack obama and joe biden. on extremist sites like the donald or the great awakening, they view her to be sort of like the ultimate villain, the final boss in that space. that's why she's received all of these threats, now apparently an invasion in her home. >> are you following this in particular reaction? i know you go to places on the web that none of us would ever find. >> this is what happens in the aftermath of these things. immediately after something like this happens they say it's a false flag, because it would effect the outcomes of the midterms. they do not take credit for attacks but they constantly and consistently egg them on to happen. >> frank, we know she was targeted, that's what we're

told, that she was being targeted. we don't know by whom. we don't know what the motivation per se was for this person, except they were looking for the speaker of the house. do you find in situations like this the way everyone seems to be online, at least the vast majority of the population, that it's not difficult to sort of get down to a close approximation of motive? or could this be very complicated? >> in this day and age, it's not difficult to discern someone's motivation, leanings, even someone like this who may be a fanatic for the cause, whatever cause that is, it wouldn't be unusual for him to have posted his reasons, motivations. we had the buffalo supermarket shooter livestream his attack. this could go to the other end of the spectrum, an isolated individual with serious issues and instabilities who spends very little time online.

when you have been radicalized to violence, that didn't happen in a vacuum. you're attached to something out there and that out there is going to be found. >> i spent three years as a squad supervisor in san francisco, that field's cyberinformation is incredible. >> we're getting a lot of reaction, including a lot of folks on the republican side who are talking about the fact that speaker pelosi's home was breached in san francisco. she is not there, but her husband was attacked and ended up going to the hospital. among the people writing, ted cruz, ron johnson, senator marsha blackburn, senator roy blount, senator chuck grassley, i think indicative of what most of them have written to one extent or another, is simply i wish mr. pelosi well and pray for a quick recovery. everyone deserves to be

respected and violence is never okay. it's easy for us, jake ward, to all agree with that. but how has the sense of unease on capitol hill calmed since january 6th, or has it at all given the number of threats out there? i'm sorry, jake? jake sherman? >> yes, i thought you said jake ward. >> my apologies. jake ward is in san francisco. not on capitol hill. too many jakes. >> i apologize. i -- you're almost left speechless here. on top of all of this is a congress, a facility that has been hardened but also left quite vulnerable. you're seeing a lot of reaction

from the right, wishing him well, but there will be some interesting dynamics to watch in the next couple of months. if nancy pelosi were to retire at the end of this congress, will she be afforded a capitol police detail for an extended period of time? that's something that a lot of people are talking about. nancy pelosi has been public enemy number one, as ben noted, for some time. if she were to retire, she will be -- she will still be this person demonized in the last 12 years. everything that nancy pelosi's office says, you talk about her approval ratings, how she's been the poster child for democrats and for limousine liberals, as was said earlier on this program. but the attacks have gotten more and more vile, and she will

still be somebody who extremists look at as emblematic of what they see as the problems of the country. and how will the government keep her safe going forward? >> nbc news learned that the man who broke into the home of speaker pelosi and attacked her husband with a hammer is in custody. we hope to get details at this press conference, scheduled to start 20 minutes ago in san francisco. we'll take a quick break and be back with more after this. and back wh itmore after this. a kohler home generator never misses a beat. it automatically powers your entire home. and keeps your family connected. and a kohler home generator with power boost technology does it all in seconds keeping your food fresh. and everyone comfortable. a heavy duty commercial grade engine with no refueling. and power to spare.

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we are waiting still for somebody to come out behind that podium in san francisco. we're looking for more details on the man arrested and the details of the break-in of the house of house speaker nancy pelosi and the assault on her husband who remains hospitalized as far as we know. harry lipman, one of the things we'll be looking at, as details

of this suspect come out, we don't know anything, we don't know the name of that person, what their motivation might be, if we do, indeed, have a motive. from a legal standpoint, the prosecutor has already talked to me about what they're working on, what kinds of things in an individual they would look on to -- look at to decide how to charge. >> yeah. look, we don't know, but we have a strong surmise that the reason he went there was because it's pelosi's house. he said where's nancy, where's nancy, and there's strong federal laws for anyone who assaults a federal officer, which she is, or a family member because of her status as a federal officer and it gets worse if there's serious injury as there obviously is. paul pelosi is in the hospital, and worse yet, if you use a dangerous instrument, this

hammer surely was. the big point here, look, this is an act of terrorism. i just want to underscore what frank and ben say. it's going to be straightforward. you'll see the fbi step in and take control of the investigation and the u.s. attorney take it over if it's what it looks like. that will be straightforward now that it's identified. the really, really vexing problem here, and it's ever since september 11th is prevention. that's what terrorists try to do. they want you to think they can come from anywhere, and it makes that side of the house totally challenged and of course strapped for resources. in terms of the prosecution of this crime, if it's what it looks like, it will be a federal crime, 18 usc 115, 111. it will take fairly serious penalties because of the serious injury and the use of the dangerous weapon of the blunt-nose hammer that gave the

blunt trauma. >> we just got a notice that we'll hear from the folks at the beginning of this press conference any moment now. both from a national security standpoint and from a public servant standpoint, somebody who obviously was very well known during your time there, what do you want to know? what are you looking for from this press conference? >> the main thing i'm looking for is was this person an alienated and isolated individual or was this person motivated by a widespread ideology in the country and was this person working with anybody else? those are the immediate questions. the bigger conversations are complicated ones. when you get to preventing incitement and extremism, it's a difficult conversation when it enters into our political discourse. >> let's listen in.

[ no audio ] >> as we're seeing, they're having audio issues there. i'm guessing that those folks are looking at the technical equipment and seeing exactly what's happening there or they may have been making announcements and not turning on the microphones yet. let's listen again. >> can we close that door so we don't get the noise?

good morning. we'll go ahead and get started. good morning, my name is chief bell scott with the san francisco police department. at approximately 2:27 this morning, san francisco police officers were dispatched to the residence of speaker nancy pelosi regarding an "a" priority well-being check. when the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and ms. pelosi's husband, paul. our officers observed the suspect holding a hammer. our officers tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid. the suspect has been identified

as 42-year-old david depeppi. mr. pelosi and mr. depeppi were transported to a local hospital for treatment. this is an active investigation currently being led by the san francisco police department special investigations division. we are working closely with our partners from the fbi, the u.s. attorney's office, the u.s. capitol police and our district attorney in san francisco county, d.a. brooke jenkins. the motive for this attack is still being determined. mr. depeppi will be booked at the san francisco county jail on the following charges, attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and several other additional felonies. before i go any further, i would like to thank the responding officers for their swift action this morning. those san francisco police officers are officer colbie wilnes, officer kyle cagney, and

sergeant edmond hoing. i would like to thank our emergency dispatcher, heather grimes who is standing here to my left for a really amazing job. for inquiries regarding mr. pelosi and his condition, we refer you to the statement issued by speaker pelosi's office this morning. with that, i'll turn it over to our district attorney, brooke jenkins, for a few brief comments and let me say in advance, this is what we know at this time. we will update you further, we will not be able to take any questions after the statement. >> thank you, chief scott. i do want to commend the san francisco police department for their immediate response to this home and for swiftly making sure that mr. pelosi was okay and that the suspect was apprehended. we are working closely with them right now, with respect to the investigation and we'll proceed with the appropriate charges as

things unfold, as well as work with the u.s. attorney's office and our federal partners. thank you. >> thank you all for being here. we'll update you when we get more. >> do you know how he got into the house? >> that's it for right now. we won't take any questions, thank you. our office will issue a news release very soon. that's it for now. thank you. >> so, a brief but confirming press conference, because we now know the suspect in custody is 42-year-old david depeppi, motive is being determined. but, ben, i know you have been looking into this. i know you have been online already looking for his digital footprint. what do we know about him? >> yeah. he's already posted lots of conspiracy theories about transhumanism, global warming, covid-19, and all this stuff

online on a blog. transhumanism is the belief that there are aliens running the country and they're trying to inject us with covid-19 shots, vaccines that are really computers. it's a confusing, complicated thing. he's an o.g. conspiracy theorist based on what we've seen so far. >> but nothing mentioning any politicians or political leanings or -- >> yeah, yeah. he mentions being black pilled and being against -- talking about the coverup of pedophilia and stuff like pizzagate style things. it's clear where this is leaning so far. >> okay. we also got a list, frank, of possible charges here. they're talking about attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse. it sounds like they have a clear idea of where this is going. >> so, we do for now.

i applaud sfpd for getting out quickly. they got out was they could get out quickly and kudos to them. however, conspicuous by their absence was federal officials, the u.s. attorney or an fbi official. i'm not sure what to read into that except we already heard reporting locally that the fbi is in and out of the residence. so they're clearly working this. it's just too early for them to conclusively say this is ours. clearly we heard the sfpd official saying right now it's theirs, it's sfpd. that's okay. they're on top of it. they apparently need to learn much more. don't be surprised in this -- for context here, and having worked and lived in san francisco with my fbi career, there is a complicated mess of -- we see throughout the country, particularly acute in san francisco, which is the

mental health crisis. so, you know, many may say you have to be mentally unstable if you break into somebody's house with a hammer and think aliens are coming to inject us with covid vaccine, yes. but what has to be worked out is this complicated thing -- how much of this is mental health crisis and how much of this is conspiracy theory and they're linked, if you believe this lunacy, you do have issues. it's becoming mainstream. but that could play into the decision on who's prosecuting. >> when you were saying that, the interconnectivity, ben collins was nodding. >> yeah. i mean, if you look at what this guy posts on the internet, it's very -- it is conspiracy-minded, it is inherently, i would say, it looks crazy. there's no other way to put it.

it does not look like the thoughts of a sane person, but the talking points are all the same. you know, qanon posts, talking about -- pizzagate, constant complaints about conservative censorship. they date back just a couple months ago. so, that's the issue here. yes, this country has a massive problem with mental illness that is showing up in terrorism across the country, but it's also being pushed and driven by a lot of these conspiracy theory mongers who are given talking points to say they're being persecuted and they have to go out and do something about it. >> do we still have harry lipman with us? is harry still with us? okay. let me ask you, frank, you may be able to speak to this. there's a difference between all of us -- any of us sane, normal people saying trying to kill somebody is crazy, there's a

difference between conspiracy, crazy, and what would be considered to be legally insane, that you could do a -- an actual -- make a successful case to say, not guilty by reason of insanity. otherwise some people might argue that all the people who have already been convicted of crimes in january 6th could be considered not guilty. so, how do you make that differentiation? when you're an investigator, which you have been in a case like this, how do you make that differentiation? >> you have to gather every piece of available information and that will include his police record. don't be surprised if he's had run-ins before, especially at this level of conspiracy lunacy. it's likely that the local police have encountered him before or even federal authorities. someone just doesn't do this for the first time, choose to hit the speaker of the house residence.

they've probably acted out previously. there may have been warning signs. there may even be a record with mental health professionals that he's sought help or not. here's where i come down on this personally and professionally. it's really up to the defense. you know, this area of mental health, we'll get into how someone chooses to defend him more than how someone chooses to prosecute him. in other words, if the evidence is there, look, there's the conspiracy theories, he's talking probably to the police right now about the latest conspiracy theory. so let's go with that. we look like we have our motive. and then mental health might come in as a defense. i want people to be clear, i'm not in any way suggesting there should be an excuse for these actions. i'm just saying we're living in a time where it's incredibly difficult to distinguish between which came first, the chicken or the egg? the mental instability or the conspiracy beliefs? what caused what? that's where we are today. >> i want to bring in jim

cavanaugh, he's a retired atf special agent in charge, and also a hostage negotiator. what struck you about this very brief press conference? >> i agree with everything frank just said. i was surprised i did not see the u.s. attorney speak or the fbi speak and give us a bit of what they're doing there. they can give you little overview, they don't have to give you the whole thing. i agree with ben here. when people are talking about the pizzagate conspiracy on the internet channel or their digital footprint, that's qanon, that's crackpot conspiracy theories. all the people that believe in crackpot conspiracy theories are not mentally ill. some may be. that's a small number. they're just basically crackpots. they get lured in, they get radicalized through rep pigs of repetition of what they read on the web, who they associate with, their life becomes like

qanon, who they talk to, the rallies they go to, every piece of information they consume becomes a drip, drip, drip. this becomes their phantom community, if you will. that's the community they live in. you know, we talk about them being a loaner, but they're not. they have this community, even though it may be digital to them, it's still the people that they support and want to support. everybody in that community, like ben says, while they may deny they had anything to do with it, yet their cheering on the sentiment of the attack. clearly to me, this is a federal crime. the united states attorney is going to charge this under 18 usc 115, attack on federal officials and members of their family. clearly if he's saying where's nancy and attacking with a

hammer at 2:30 in the morning, i don't know what proof you're looking for. it's probably on videotape, you have a living eyewitness. it does not mean state charges can't say, because we have dual sovereigns. so he could be charged in federal and state court for these crimes. i think -- i don't think the federal government would pass up charging someone who attacked the speaker's husband. >> ben rhodes, i want to ask you and then basel as well, we are in a situation where so many people who serve publicly are frankly under threat and scared. i'm thinking about the mother and daughter that testified in the january 6th hearing. they're poll workers, people are coming to their house. you have someone going into the house of the speaker of the united states house of representatives, and you do have to wonder what the chilling effect is?

we've already heard that across the country, for example, they're having trouble getting people who want to work at polling sites. i, two years ago, before january 6th, when i talked to people who were trying to get folks to run for office, on the democratic and republican side, said that people just didn't want the hassle. they didn't like the divisiveness but also some of them were worried about their safety. what does this kind of incident mean for us as a democracy? >> i think it's an extraordinary problem and weight on our democracy. just listening to you talk, i am nowhere near the scale of a target that nancy pelosi is or members of congress. i remember i had my run-ins with the right-wing media system. one time a fox news camera crew came to my apartment building in d.c. to ambush me on my stoop. my wife was pregnant with our first child at the time.

i knew my address and apartment building would be on tv with some rhetoric about me, and that's fox, which is the gateway drug, if you will, or the most mainstream version of what becomes a dark ecosystem very quick, if you move online as ben has detailed. look, i think we have to call this what it is. there are millions of people who are into this qanon stuff. a lot of people believe this kind of stuff. they're being radicalized. when you see donald trump giving not just dog whistles but out and out qanon language in his statements, that's a symbol that i'm on your side. this is dangerous. we're tolerating this too long. you mentioned republicans expressing support and hope paul

pelosi gets well. let's see if they condemn this. let's see if they say there's no place in this political movement for this kind of conspiracy theory and this kind of garbage and rhetoric. if it's just expressing get well for paul pelosi and this is terrible and we're shocked, that's not going to make any difference. that's going to get through the day and seem to be expressing support. there has to be a concerted effort to say that qanon conspiracy theories, allegations of cabals of people controlling this country and engaging in child sex trafficking, this has been going on for years. pizzagate, that was five, six years ago. it's only gotten worse. it's a snowball going down a mountain. if we think it's going to disappear after some election cycle, it's not. it's getting worse. it's getting worse online. ben is as good a reporter as there is on this. to me, to return to your

original point, a young person deciding do i want to run for congress, do i want to run for office, do i want to be a capitol hill staffer? absolutely i'm sure there are people that are not taking those steps now because the environment looks so toxic. so we're not getting the people we would have once gotten in public service. that's a real crisis, too. we'll be feeling that years from now. there has to be a way to detoxify this discourse online. it has to start from leadership from officials. there has to be concerted effort to say we want to make public service an attractive option for people. we want the best and brightest to come into this field. that's the only way we'll solve problems as a country. we have to see the big picture here. it's easy to say this is one lunatic who believes in strange things. but the reality is a lot of people believe those things. a lot of people that are considering whether or not they

want to go into politics and looking at that thing are saying i want no part of that. >> that leads me to you, basel, who as head of the democratic party in new york and spent more than a few hours trying to recute people trying to run for various levels of office. it's never easy. there's a vision that there are all these super ambitious people out there. if you want good people started into the system, many of them have to be convinced. when you sort of put that together with what's been a major theme in the midterms which is the battle for democracy, how do you view what you see today and how different things are now than when you were the head of the democratic party in new york. >> before i answer that. one of the big things that came out of that press conference is the image of an elderly man literally fighting for his life. that, to me, is the sort of image and feeling that i imagine

resonates with so many folks who are, if not directly in politics and public service, but are related to them, are married to them. this should be concerning for so many of us. i look at this through the eyes, hearts and minds of the students that i teach, one of the many hats i wear. from young people in their late teens to their late 20s. it's extraordinary that american exceptionalism when i was growing up, this was an experience that wasn't in our country. we didn't attack politicians. this was other countries. this was an international issue, not an american issue. but my students are going out into a world when they graduate where this is a feature of american politics. it's a feature of american life right now. trying to get them to mote vam them to do this work has become

much more difficult. much of the research they're doing now is basically how to deal with social media and the internet and trying to keep people from becoming radicalized, not at meetings, which used to happen when i was -- when i was younger and coming into this business, but they can be radicalized in isolation online. this is something that's concerning for arguably people that use social media and are on the internet more than any of us. i look at it through their eyes. i look at it through their frustration with where we go from here. it absolutely is concerning. it's difficult to get people to run for office, and even when i talk to students about the work that i do, just being on tv like this, a lot of people come up to me in the street and like what i have to say, some that have a lot of questions.

i don't think someone about not liking what i have to say and the consequences of that, but at some time i think i'll have to start doing that. when i hear so many friends, leagues, just folks i meet in passing that are even consider ing arming themselves and buying guns now, it's suggesting january 6th may not have been the beginning, the end, or even the midpoint of our political unrest, that there's much more to come. it's concerning that there's so many people that not only have anxiety around it, but are preparing for it. that in and of itself, as we talk about mental health. that's not healthy, that's trau. and that has to be addressed in the short and long term. >> let me bring in nbc's ryan nobles on the hill. if you could use the word disquieting, that would be a gross understatement to what happened, and i think that it was described very well, this image you have, an older man with a hammer, trying to fend

off, you know, an attacker. so i wonder what kind of reaction you're getting there, and what you can tell us about security. >> reporter: no doubt that this is shaking clip. , capitol hill. there are few if any lawmakers in washington right now as we're so close to the midterm elections, congress is in recess right now, but the outpouring of support for the house speaker and her family is coming from all different corners, both republican and democrat. the president of the united states saying that he reached out to the house speaker, to express his concerns about her husband, and the hope of a full recovery for paul pelosi. the house minority leader, kevin mccarthy, someone that battles with the house speaker on numerous occasions, when it comesen it come he too reached out to her, and he also is glad that the assailant has been taken into custody and he hopes that paul pelosi has a full recovery but it comes, chris, against the

backdrop of what can only be described as an explosion in threats against members of cong we've seen it physically play out, right? of course, the incident that took place at the congressional baseball game a few years ago, where the now gop whip, steve scalise, was almost critically injured, and his life was saved but it was a very close situation. and then of course going all the way back to gabby giffords and her situation. and the threats against members of congress have jumped 144% according to capitol police and as a result, they've taken action. they've allocated a significant amount of money to each member of congress to provide security systems and the hardening of their home addresses, to try to prevent something like this from actually happening.al and of course, when you're talking about nancy pelosi, this is the person that is third in line to the presidency, and she is someone who has 24/7 security around her at all times.

capitol police detail that followsto her wherever she goes that checks out every place that she walks into, and would have certainly been on patrol in front of herce house, had she bn in residence at that point. but she was here in washington, d.c., it is an extremely busy time of the year for the house speaker. her husband andor her family ar not afforded that same level of protection. and so that's part of what led to this situation, and you know, again, we have to reiterate that we do not know the motivation for this attack, despite the fact that police have said that this individual was looking for the house speaker. wee don't know the reason why was looking for her. but it stands to reason that members of congress from both sides of the aisle have come under an increased spotlight, especially with the level of political tension and partisanship that we find in this country right now, and it is bearing out not only in these threats that came through voice mails, phone call, text messages and actually people yelling at members of congress when they see them, but it's also manifesting itself in actual

violence. and if you talk to capitol police officers, the chief here, they're worried that incidents liketh this have the potential becoming more and more frequent. if it wasn't already, chris, this has to be a wakeup call for members of congress and the people who are charged with protecting them. >> and i want to bring in nbc's tom winter as well who has been on this since the moment that the storyhi broke. and tom, if you can just sort of give us the latest on what we know and what we're still waiting to find out. >> we're still trying to confirm some social media accounts as well as a picture of this ia individual, identified as david, 42, most recently believed to be from the berkeley, california, area, although it has been a little bit difficult to find an address for him so far this evening. he appears to be a bit of a transient if you will. as far as the information from the san francisco police department chief, this happened at approximately 2:27 a.m. local time in california.

police were called to the address for a home break-in, and for a priority wellness check. when police arrived, according to chief scott, apparently what they found was paul pelosi and this attacker in a struggle. and both of them were holding a hammer, and then the individual struck paul pelosi, as we know, he's suffered serious injuries, he's at the hospital, undergoing care at this moment. and then after that, chris, they were able to take him into custody. he's expected to be charged by local authorities in san francisco later today with attempted homicide, assault, elder abuse and a host of other charges. our understanding, according to two people who have been briefed on this investigation, so far, and this is preliminary information, which is subject to change, is that when the individual entered into the lome, he said at some point to paul pelosi, where is nancy, where is nancy, in an apparent reference to the speaker, who obviously we're looking at on

screen now, on the left, speaker nancy pelosi, so we need to find out more information about this individual'sti background, and y potential prior contacts with law enforcement, and then what may have been the motive here. i certainly think, and a lot of folks have talked about the idea that this was a targeted attack at the speaker, and what were the reasons for that, and what beliefs does this individual have. right now, law enforcement is saying it is too soon to say. they're trying to get more information from this individual. that's what we know so far, chris. obviously an investigation that hass. evolved significantly ove the last 8 to 10 hours, and we expect to get more today. >> we have had quite an hour. tom winter, ben rhodes, jim cavanaugh, ben collins, thank you so much for being here. that is going to do it for us, this very busy breaking news hour. make sure to join us for "chris jansing reports" every s weekda 1:00 eastern time,ry right heren msnbc. we'll have much more on this

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good to be with you. i'm katey tur. is this the moment where all of our lawmakers all of our politicians, denounce violence and conspiracy that inning spire it. officials in san francisco identified the suspect who broke into nancy pelosi's home at 2:00 a.m. and beat up