The crazed man who allegedly attacked the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer was charged with attempted murder by the San Francisco District Attorney on Monday.

David DePape, 42, was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, residential burglary and threats to a public official and their family, according to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

“It appears as though this was based on his statements and comments that were made in that house during his encounter with Mr. Pelosi that this was politically motivated,” Jenkins said at a press conference.

Jenkins said DePape targeted the Pelosi home and confronted Paul Pelosi who was asleep in his bed.

The intruder woke up the 82-year-old Paul Pelosi and asked where his wife was.

Paul Pelosi attempted to get into an elevator inside the home that has a phone, but DePape blocked him, Jenkins said. It was only after Pelosi asked to go to the bathroom that he was able to call 911, Jenkins said.

When DePape realized he made a call, he took Pelosi downstairs near the front door. Officers arrived two minutes after the call came in, Jenkins said.

At that point, DePape “violently struck (Pelosi) in the top of his head” after a brief struggle for control of the weapon, Jenkins said. It’s unclear which man opened the door for authorities or how many times Paul Pelosi was struck, she said.

No security was present when the break-in occurred, she added.

“What is clear based on the evidence that we have thus far is that this house and the Speaker herself were specifically targets of the defendant,” Jenkins said.

DePape is expected to be arraigned Tuesday where prosecutors will request he is remanded due to the “obvious and severe” safety risks he poses, prosecutors said.

He could face a life sentence if convicted of the charges.

The local charges come after DePape was federally charged with attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to retaliate against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member Monday.

Jenkins said local and federal law enforcement and the San Francisco and federal prosecutors are working together on the case.

“These will be parallel prosecutions,” she said.

Jenkins warned heated political chatter needs to be toned down in light of the violent attack.

“As leaders and as citizens it is incumbent upon us all to watch the words that we say and to turn down the volume of our political rhetoric,” Jenkins said. “We should be able to all engage in passionate political discourse, but still remain respectful of one another.

“Violence certainly has no place in San Francisco or in politics,” she said. 

President Biden has avoided campaigning in several key states with just eight days to go before the Nov. 8 midterm elections, confining his appearances to normally safe blue states like California and New York — or his home turf of Pennsylvania.

Since Sept. 1, Biden has visited just six of the 14 states with the most competitive Senate and gubernatorial races as rated by the non-partisan Cook Political Report, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal.

Notably, the president has not campaigned in Arizona, Nevada, or Georgia — all states he won in 2020 that are playing host to races that could swing the balance of power in the Senate.

Since Sept. 1, Biden has visited 14 states and has held 17 fundraisers, according to the Journal — a less full schedule than either of his predecessors.

Over the same period in 2010, former President Barack Obama visited 20 states and held 28 fundraisers. In 2018, former President Donald Trump visited 25 states and held 18 fundraisers. 

Biden’s limited travel has included multiple trips to New York and a swing through left-leaning California and Oregon, but only one visit to Michigan and Wisconsin. His final rally before Election Day will be held in Maryland, where Democrats are heavily favored to regain the governor’s mansion after eight years.  

Democrats have publicly played down Biden’s relatively light schedule — he spent the penultimate weekend before the midterms at his Delaware home, emerging only to accompany his granddaughter, Natalie to the polls — but for different reasons.

“He’s on the road and he’s raising a boatload of money for Democratic candidates,” Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, told the Wall Street Journal. 

However, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), told CBS News earlier this month that he wasn’t interested in Biden’s assistance in his close Senate race against Republican J.D. Vance.

“I won’t be asking the president to come in — or very, very few, if any, national people to come in and actually campaign with us,” Ryan said, “because I want to be the main face, the main messenger of that of this campaign.”

Ryan also distanced himself from the president in interviews when Biden visited the Buckeye State in early September for the groundbreaking of a semiconductor facility.

The lone exception to Biden’s avoidance of battlegrounds has been Pennsylvania, where the president was born and lived the first ten years of his life.

Biden visited the state twice in eight days this month to boost the candidacy of Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, whose campaign is struggling to regain momentum after a disastrous performance in an Oct. 25 debate against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The president will return to the Keystone State Nov. 5 to campaign for Fetterman alongside his former boss, Obama.

Up next for Biden this week is a campaign event in Florida on Tuesday for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Senate candidate Val Demings, both of whom trail respective GOP incumbents Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio.

On Thursday, the president will head to New Mexico to campaign for Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham — who like her fellow Democrats in Oregon and New York — is locked in a closer-than-expected race.

Some of the heavy lifting, it seems, will be left to Obama, who will travel to Nevada on Tuesday and campaign for Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who polls show trailing Republican Adam Laxalt in her reelection campaign.

The 44th president will then head to Arizona on Wednesday, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs trails Republican Kari Lake by about 4 percentage points and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly leads Trump-backed Republican Blake Masters by just over 1 percentage point, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

Last week, Obama attended a rally for Democrats in Georgia, where he spoke in support of Sen. Raphael Warnock and gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, both of whom trail in their respective races — Warnock by a point and a half to Republican Herschel Walker, and Abrams by 7.6 points to incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R), according to RCP.

Republicans are expected at a minimum to flip the five seats necessary in order to take control of the House Representatives, and with the Senate divided 50-50, the GOP needs to only flip one seat to control the upper chamber as well.

Indian police on Monday arrested nine people, including contractors and ticketing agents, over the disastrous suspension bridge collapse that killed at least 134 pedestrians.

Inspector-General Ashok Yadav said the nine people arrested in connection to the disaster Sunday in the small industrial city of Morbi included managers of the bridge’s operator, Oreva Group, tickets clerks and three security guards.

“We won’t let the guilty get away, we won’t spare anyone,” Yadav warned.

Surveillance video capturing the final moments before the tragedy showed a group of young men taking photos on the overcrowded colonial-era bridge while others were rocking it from side to side, before they all tumbled more than 30 feet into the Machchhu River below as the cables snapped.

Gujarat authorities opened a case against bridge operator Oreva for suspected culpable homicide, attempted culpable homicide and other violations.

In March, the local Morbi town government awarded a 15-year contract to maintain and manage the bridge built in 1877 during the British occupation to Oreva — a group of companies known mainly for making clocks, mosquito zappers and electric bikes.

The same month, Oreva closed the bridge, which spans a wide section of the Machchu River, for repairs.

The bridge has been repaired several times in the past and many of its original parts have been replaced over the years.

It was reopened nearly seven months later, on Oct. 26, the first day of the Gujarati New Year, which coincides with the Hindu festival season, and the attraction drew hundreds of sightseers.

Sandeepsinh Zala, a Morbi official, told the Indian Express newspaper the company reopened the bridge without first obtaining a certificate indicating that it was fit for public use.

“They did not give us any information that they were reopening the bridge,” Zala said. “We have not issued any fitness certificate to them.”

Jayrajsinh Jadeja, a local lawmaker from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, blamed Oreva for selling tickets without restrictions and said overcrowding led to the bridge collapse.

The bridge was previously maintained by the local municipality, which limited the number of people on it at one time to 20, he said.

On Sunday, some 400 people had bought tickets to get onto the 4-foot-wide bridge spanning 255 yards to celebrate the Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals.

Authorities said the structure collapsed under the weight of the people. A security video of the disaster showed it shaking violently and people trying to hold onto its cables and metal fencing before the aluminum walkway gave way and crashed into the river’s muddy waters.

The bridge split in the middle with its walkway hanging down, its cables snapped.

“There were just too many people on the bridge. We could barely move,” Sidik Bai, 27, said while recovering from injuries in a hospital in Morbi.

Sidik said he jumped into the water when the bridge began to crack and saw his friend being crushed by its metal walkway. He survived by clinging to the bridge’s cables.

“Everyone was crying for help, but one by one they all began disappearing in the water,” Sidik said.

Ashwin Mehra, who was being treated for leg and back injuries, said he and six others had reached the shore by holding onto the bridge’s metal railings and netting.

“There were about 15 to 20 boys aged between 20 and 25 years who were shaking the bridge,” he told the news outlet ANI. “… We heard some sounds three times, and the sixth time, the cable (of the bridge) suddenly snapped.”

About 35 victims were under 14, according to a list of the deceased seen by Reuters. At least 177 people had been rescued by the morning. Some of the survivors were hospitalized in critical condition.

REUTERS

REUTERS

SIDDHARAJ SOLANKI/EPA-EFE/Shutte

“People were hanging from the bridge after the accident, but they slipped and fell into the river when it collapsed,” said Raju, a witness who gave only one name. “I could not sleep the entire night as I had helped in the rescue operation. I brought a lot of children to the hospital.”

Narendrasinh Jadeja, whose friend lost seven members of his family, including four children, said: “I cannot express how angry and helpless I am feeling.”

State minister Harsh Sanghvi said most of the victims were teenagers, women and older people.

President Biden released a statement Monday afternoon expressing his sorrow to the people of India over the tragedy.

“Today, our hearts are with India,” the statement read. “Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones during the bridge collapse, and join the people of Gujarat in mourning the loss of too many lives cut short.

“The United States and India are indispensable partners, with deep bonds between our citizens. In this difficult hour, we will continue to stand with and support the Indian people.”

Gujarat is the home state of PM Modi, who was visiting the state at the time of the accident. He said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy” and his office announced compensation for families of the dead and called for speedy rescue efforts.

“Rarely in my life, would I have experienced such pain,” Modi said during a public event in the state Monday.

With Post wires

Ukrainian grain shipments continued on Monday — despite Russia’s announcement over the weekend that it was pulling out of a deal to secure commercial shipping in the Black Sea after its fleet there came under attack.

“Today 12 ships left Ukrainian ports. UN and Turkish delegations provide 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 ships, aiming to fulfill the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, tweeted Monday, referencing the formal name of the deal between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

“This inspection plan has been accepted by the Ukrainian delegation. The Russian delegation has been informed,” he added.

The announcement came after Russia announced Sunday it was pulling out of a July deal to allow the passage of grain shipments from Ukrainian ports, a move Kyiv said put 218 ships in limbo.

Among them was the Ikaria Angel, a UN-chartered freighter carrying 40,000 tons of grain bound for Ethiopia. Kubrakov said the ship had disembarked Monday with its cargo.

The resumption of shipments indicated that Moscow had stopped short of reinstating the blockade that kept a stranglehold on world food supplies for much of the first half of this year.

Ukraine is among the world’s largest exporters of grain — specifically wheat and sunflower oil. July’s agreement to secure shipping lanes through the war zone was a UN-brokered solution to a brewing global food crisis.

Since the deal was put in place, 397 ships have safely left Ukraine, exporting some 9 million tons of grain from the war-torn nation.

Ship tracking services showed the Ikaria Angel off the Ukrainian coast Monday, on course for the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey.

But despite the apparent safe passage of the Ikaria Angel and the other ships to depart Ukrainian ports Monday, the future of the grain deal was uncertain.

Insurers at Lloyds of London — a marketplace for insuring ships and cargo — indicated that grain shipments in the Black Sea would be difficult to underwrite without more clarity regarding Russia’s intentions.

“Insurers tell us their premiums may leap by a quarter or a half for shipping crossing the Black Sea,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the body’s Security Council.

With Post wires

Federal agents set out a timeline giving bizarre new details in their charging documents for David DePape, including how the maniac planned to take a nap after tying up Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

DePape, the crazed man who allegedly broke into Pelosi’s home and attacked her husband Paul with a hammer, was slapped with federal charges for attempted kidnapping and assault Monday.

DePape, 42, told San Francisco cops he broke into the Pelosi mansion through a glass door using a hammer he brought with him.

He said Paul Pelosi was in his bedroom asleep at the time and DePape demanded the Speaker of the House’s husband wake up, demanding to see his wife, who was in Washington, DC.

“Pelosi responded that she was not present. Pelosi asked how they could resolve the situation, and DePape wanted to do,” according to the doc.

“DePape stated he wanted to tie Pelosi up so that DePape could go to sleep as he was tired from having had to carry a backpack to the Pelosi residence.”

The psycho then recounted “taking out twist ties from his pocket so that he could restrain Pelosi.

“Pelosi moved towards another part of the house, but DePape stopped him and together they went back into the bedroom,” the DOJ document said.

The two men conversed and Pelosi went to the bathroom, where he was able to secretly call the police.

DePape realized what was happening. In his interview with police, he said he “felt like Pelosi’s actions compelled him to respond.

“DePape remembered thinking that there was no way the police were going to forget about the phone call,” the document said.

In another head-scratching twist, the alleged attacker later told police more than once “he did not leave after Pelosi’s call to 911 because, much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender.” 

DePape and Pelosi had gone downstairs by the time police arrived and knocked on the door, which the 82-year-old rushed to open.

“Pelosi grabbed onto DePape’s hammer, which was in DePape’s hand. At this point in the interview, DePape repeated that [he] did not plan to surrender and that he would go ‘through’ Pelosi.”

It was then that he began beating Pelosi with a hammer, fracturing his skull in the process, cops said.

He later told cops Pelosi was “taking the punishment instead” of his wife. 

The charging documents revealed cops were witness to the attack.

“Pelosi and DePape were both holding a hammer with one hand and DePape had his other hand holding onto Pelosi’s forearm. Pelosi greeted the officers,” the documents outlined. “The officers asked them what was going on. DePape responded that everything was good. Officers then asked Pelosi and DePape to drop the hammer.”

Then, “DePape pulled the hammer from Pelosi’s hand and swung the hammer, striking Pelosi in the head. Officers immediately went inside and were able to restrain DePape…Pelosi appeared to be unconscious on the ground.”

The charging documents stated that DePape said he was targeting Pelosi for being the “‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party” and he wanted to break her kneecaps to show that her actions had consequences. 

Pelosi remains in the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, where he underwent surgery on his skull and has been visited by family members. Doctors have said they expect him to make a full recovery.

DePape was also taken to hospital after the attack, but under police custody.

Nancy has said little about the attack, but wrote to her colleagues in a letter Saturday that her family was traumatized by the incident. 

“Yesterday morning, a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul,” Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to her congressional colleagues. “Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop.”

Cuban officials are blaming the US for exploding flight from the Caribbean island, saying it “encourages” its citizens to journey across then “allows” them to stay on its territory.

The statement came after five desperate defectors — including a 5-year-old girl — died when their vessel crashed into a Cuban coast guard boat Saturday.

Cuban state media said the dead included three women and a young girl, while more than a dozen others were rescued.

The migrant craft, bound for American shores, flipped after a collision with a Cuban vessel that was attempting to intercept it.

“A new event with a fatal outcome occurs as a consequence of the hostile and cruel policy of the United States government against Cuba, which tolerates and encourages illegal departures from Cuba by allowing irregular migrants to remain in its territory,” the Cuban Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.

Customs and Border Patrol [CBP] recently released figures showing a record 224,600 people from Cuba presented themselves to its agents in fiscal year 2022 — up from 39,300 attempts to gain entry to the US in 2021.

With the Caribbean island’s economy cratering, a soaring number of Cubans are attempting to reach Florida by making a treacherous 90-mile marine trek.

Sources critical of Cuba’s regime characterized the boating incident as a “killing” rather than an accident, while asserting the government’s repressive policies and mismanagement are what is really driving people away from the country.

Between October 2021 and August 2022, the US Coast Guard intercepted more than 4,600 Cubans traveling by boat — more than six times 2020’s total.

Migrants are flooding to the US from what the CBP calls “three failing communist regimes,” in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Since the US has poor diplomatic relationships with those countries, it cannot repatriate migrants to them, instead allowing to stay in the US while they pursue their asylum immigration cases — which can take decades.

Cuba is currently experiencing a huge economic crisis after the US tightened sanctions on the country and it was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

US officials sent condolences to the families of the deceased in the Cuban boat incident.

“As we expand safe and legal pathways for migration, we warn against attempting dangerous and sometimes fatal irregular migration,” wrote the US Embassy in Havana in a tweet.

Can you hear the loud whine emanating from the coasts?

That chorus of dweebs comprises elite newspaper reporters, columnists and so-called influencers who have just heard the news that Elon Musk, the uber-rich new owner and CEO of Twitter, might begin charging $19.99 a month to retain “verification” on his dumb social media platform.

Their moans are music to my ears!

According to a positively symphonic report from the Verge, Musk is gung-ho on shaking up the entire screwed-up system.

“The whole verification process is being revamped right now,” he tweeted.

Play on, Elon! Play on!

What Maestro Musk is hinting at, the report said, is that those stupid blue checkmarks might soon cost a staggering $240 a year, and that they will be available to more folks than just CNN writers, celebrities, YouTube stars and Pete Buttigieg’s husband. 

Anybody can get one — Twitterté, tweegalité, tweeternité! — if they are willing to partake in one of the greatest scams since bottled water: 20 bucks every 31 days for a meaningless stamp.

However, that badge of BS means more than life itself to members of media.

Journalists, who can barely afford a ballpoint pen, are incensed that their easiest avenue of self-styled power is about to cost more than HBO. And they’re further rankled that they could wind up no more special on Twitter than their plebeian readers thanks to a checkmark bonanza. Womp womp.

Isn’t their distress soothing, like Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto?

Waking up to find that little blue symbol next to one’s name is, for a certain superior sect of society, akin to being knighted by the king. Many excitedly announce this non-achievement. After years of toiling in unofficial obscurity, blasting out scoops and carefully crafted jokes, they’ve ascended to digital Mount Olympus. They finally matter.

Not so much, it turns out. 

Verification should prove a user is real — not deem them to be more important than everybody else.

Verification signals, according to Twitter, that an account is “authentic, notable, and active.” There is an application process, but Twitter also verifies accounts on its own. The price tag, I’ll admit, is a rip-off.

To those personalities who would barely exist were it not for Twitter, Evil Elon is at it again. This injustice simply cannot stand. Especially since they vastly prefer their personal Twitter accounts to the actual publications they are paid by.

There is nothing writers hate more than being edited. How dare an educated coworker who knows the difference between who and whom try to make their story read clearer and smarter. The gall. Writers want their pure, unfiltered feelings available to all without any fact-checking or pesky bosses getting in the way. Twitter gave them that, plus the opportunity to endlessly boast and reveal all their biases while having a checkmark just like Cher. 

With Elon in charge and the end of free verification imminent, some are threatening a mass exodus. 

Good! Twitter would be far better off as an app on which to share photos of puppies.

Let’s be real: Twitter is a 100% toxic cesspit showcasing humanity at its absolute worst. It’s where Kanye West, with no oversight, posted vile anti-Semitic messages. His account was briefly frozen, and now he’s back. With a nifty blue checkmark.

Not exactly some sacred marker of reliability, is it?

The notion that we should give more attention and consideration to the points tweeted by the rarified verified is wrong.

If Musk wants to open up verification to the masses, fine. The media kvetching about a totally inconsequential business move is hysterical. They can go press “submit” somewhere else.