Politicians and the truth make strange bed fellows.

I agree. The conspiracies openly spread by Right Wing personalities are quite disgusting, especially noting that they have yet to offer detractions or apologies for their lies.

Prominent right-wing figures – including former President Donald Trump and some Republican members of Congress – spread a variety of inaccurate assertions and baseless innuendo in the wake of the brutal hammer assault on the husband of Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by an intruder who broke into their California home looking for her.

Echoing claims that had circulated among right-wing social media accounts, Trump claimed in a radio interview that aired in early November: “But the glass, it seems, was broken from the inside to the out – and you know, that was – so it wasn’t a break-in, it was a break-out.”

False. It was a break-in. Surveillance footage released by the court last week shows alleged assailant David DePape smashing a back door at the Pelosi home with a hammer, then maneuvering his body to enter the home.

Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida claimed in a Newsmax interview in early November that Pelosi, in his 911 call, had referred to the intruder “as his friend.” Right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza made a similar claim, tweeting in late October that “Paul Pelosi KNEW his attacker and NAMED him in his 911 call.” Fox host Tucker Carlson said on his show in late October that “in Pelosi’s 911 call he knew DePape’s first name and apparently referred to him as a friend.” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia tweeted in late October that the attacker was “Paul Pelosi’s friend.”

False. The audio of Pelosi’s 911 call, released by the court last week, proves that Pelosi repeatedly said he didn’t know who the intruder was and that Pelosi refused to call the man a friend.

Right-wing commentator Raheem Kassam tweeted in late October, “They’re still pretending it wasn’t Paul Pelosi’s gay lover.” Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana tweeted in late October that the assailant was a “male prostitute,” then deleted the tweet. And Musk, also in late October, tweeted a link to a baseless article alleging the incident involved a dispute between Pelosi and a prostitute. Musk wrote, “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.” He deleted his tweet hours later.

These claims are false. All of the evidence, including a recording of DePape’s interview with police, confirms that Pelosi was confronted in his home in the middle of the night by an unknown intruder bent on confronting the Democratic speaker of the House out of political antipathy toward her and other Democrats.

Right-wing figures including D’Souza claimed or suggested that Pelosi’s attacker was in his underwear.

The claim is false. Police body camera footage released by the court last week proves that DePape was wearing shorts when officers arrived at the house, as the FBI said in the October court filing, and that he was fully clothed in a sweatshirt and shoes, as federal prosecutors added in the November court filing.

Some right-wing commentators promoted the idea that Pelosi also wielded a hammer during his interaction with DePape, again insinuating that some sort of consensual encounter had occurred. On Twitter, Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York wrote “LOL” while amplifying a meme showing a group of men holding hammers near an LGBT pride flag; she eventually deleted it. On Instagram, Donald Trump Jr. posted and then deleted a crude meme that suggested Pelosi was using a hammer during a sexual scenario (while laughably claiming the meme had nothing to do with anything in the news). On Facebook, Republican North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted a meme that suggested there were two hammers involved in a half-naked encounter. Robinson wrote in the post that remains online today: “I’m sorry Paul I don’t believe you or the press!!!!”

All of this is nonsense. The police body camera footage shows Pelosi and DePape each holding on to a single hammer just inside the door of the Pelosi home before DePape ripped that hammer away and hit Pelosi with it. There is zero indication that Pelosi had his own hammer at any point of the incident.

The most ludicrous of the false conspiracy theories was that the incident was staged or that Pelosi’s injuries were imaginary. At least two hosts on One America News made such claims in late-October comments that were previously noted by liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America. And Republican Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers retweeted a meme showing a supposed online store listing for a “Paul Pelosi Fake Attack” novelty party accessory.

The attack was, obviously, real; both the break-in and assault were captured on the video footage the public has now seen. And the recording of DePape’s interview with police features him openly discussing the break-in and the assault, though, again, he subsequently pleaded not guilty.