Paul Pelosi Underwear Rumor in David DePape Attack Debunked: FACT CHECK

Twitter is flooded with people assuming as a fact that David DePape and/or Paul Pelosi were in their underwear when San Francisco police arrived at the scene of the October 28 hammer attack. But is that true? What’s the evidence?

According to the federal affidavit released on October 31, 2022, DePape was wearing shorts during the attack.

The only credible media outlet to report that DePape was in his underwear has retracted it. No credible media outlet has reported that Pelosi was in his underwear, and authorities have not confirmed that information. Even removing the subjective judgment of what is credible from the equation, no news outlet that is repeating the claim has offered evidence or named its sourcing.

The claim appears to have ignited when a single news organization, KTVU-TV, a Fox News affiliate in Oakland, California, reported that DePape was wearing only his underwear when police arrived. The news organization, which is generally regarded as  credible, later posted a correction and removed the erroneous information about the underwear from the article.