Top US Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s husband charged with drunk driving

The husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a top Democratic legislator, has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Paul Pelosi was picked up in Napa County, California after he was involved in a crash late on Saturday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

He was attempting to cross State Route-29 in a 2021 Porsche when his vehicle was struck by a 48-year-old man driving a 2014 Jeep, according to police. No one was injured in the crash and the other driver was not arrested.

Paul Pelosi was later booked into the Napa County Detention Center and charged with two misdemeanours – one count of driving under the influence and one count of driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher. California law bars drivers from operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 grams per decilitre of blood.

His bail was set at $5,000. Records did not show him as being in custody as of Sunday. Further details of the incident were not immediately available.

The arrest took place while Nancy Pelosi was on the East Coast, her spokesman said. On Sunday morning, she delivered a commencement address at Brown University in Rhode Island.

“The speaker will not be commenting on this private matter, which occurred while she was on the East Coast,” spokesman Drew Hammill said.

As speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is second in line for the US presidency, which she would assume in the event both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were incapacitated. Pelosi announced in January she would seek re-election for another two-year term, ending speculation that she would retire.

Join me live @BrownUniversity as I deliver the Commencement Oration to 2022 graduates and receive an honorary doctorate degree. https://t.co/uBhdzJyOej

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 29, 2022

She and her husband, who runs a real estate and venture capital investment firm, have been married since 1963.

Paul Pelosi’s investments, which are laid out in Nancy Pelosi’s legally required disclosures, have previously caught the attention of a group of young investors on TikTok, who have pointed out how well they typically perform.

The attention has sat uncomfortably for Pelosi, as pressure to ban trading by members of Congress has grown amid concerns over conflict of interest.