Federal authorities are looking for the Donald Trump fan who admitted to tasing a police officer during the fracas at the U.S. Capitol and was sentenced to more than a dozen years in jail on January 6.
Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez was a particularly infamous character to emerge from the Capitol incident, which occurred when a mob of Donald Trump supporters overpowered police and attacked the Capitol building just as Congress was about to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Rodriguez, 40, appears to have admitted to placing an electroshock weapon around the neck of Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone in conversations with federal investigators.
“What exactly do you want me to tell you?”At the time, Rodriguez informed federal investigators. “You mean I tased him?” Yes… Am I a f—— jerk? Yes.”
In the incident, Fanone has carried down the Capitol steps and savagely beaten while pleading for his life and yelling to his attackers that he had children. He apparently suffered a small heart attack as a result of Rodriguez’s stun gun. He survived, although he retired from the force in 2021 and later testified before Congress about his ordeal.
Federal prosecutors said in a late-week filing that he should serve more than a dozen years in prison.
“For the defendant who plotted for weeks to travel across the country to halt the official proceeding on January 6, 2021, who fought law officers on the steps of the U.S. “The government requests that this Court sentence Daniel Joseph Rodriguez to 168 months’ incarceration for tasing one of them in the neck and obstructing justice by conspiring with others to get rid of key evidence from January 6th,” federal prosecutors argue in the sentencing memorandum.
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In addition, the government is requesting 36 months of supervised release and nearly $100,000 in compensation.
Prosecutors describe Rodriguez as “one of the most violent defendants on Jan. 6,” adding that his assault on Fanone was “not the end of Rodriguez’s day at the Capitol.” After breaking into the building through a broken window shortly before 5:00 p.m., he entered multiple offices, at one point attempting to break open a window to allow more rioters inside. Prosecutors claim Rodriguez “rifled through bags and desks” in another office and urged others to “look for intel.” At one point, he uncovered an emergency escape hood and carried it with him when he eventually left the premises.
Rodriguez appeared to boast about the assault in the immediate aftermath.
Prosecutors allege Rodriguez posted to a pro-Trump Telegram channel on Jan. 6 during the violence, “Tazzzzed the f— out of the blue.” “[O]mg I did so much f—— s— [right now] and got away and will tell you later,” he added.
Rodriguez, a California resident, pled guilty in February to obstruction of congressional official action, interfering with papers or procedures, and inflicting bodily harm on an officer with a dangerous weapon. The obstruction and violence accusations carry a statutory maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Rodriguez’s plea deal originally called for a sentence of 87 to 121 months.
According to the government’s sentencing statement, Rodriguez is related to another notorious Jan. 6 defendant, Beverly Hills hairdresser Gina Bisignano, who famously yelled “You are not going to take away our Trumpy Bear!” on Jan. 6 through a bullhorn while perched on a windowsill at the Capitol. Prosecutors claim that after returning to California from Washington, Rodriguez paid a visit to Bisignano at her home, where he allegedly taught her how to delete digital evidence of her stay in the Capitol.
In May 2022, Bisignano retracted her guilty plea to many Jan. 6 violations, and court documents show that she is proceeding with a bench trial, though no trial date has been established.
“Rodriguez did this with the understanding that these videos could be used as evidence in future prosecutions of the Capitol riot,” according to the government memo.
Rodriguez, for one, claims he was duped by Trump’s “lies and manipulation” about his loss in the 2020 election. According to the letter, Rodriguez’s fatherless background caused him to almost worship Trump.
Rodriguez “believed the former president’s lies because Mr. Rodriguez deeply respected and idolized Trump,” according to the letter. “He saw the former president as a father figure he wished he had.”
Indeed, according to the defense report, Rodriguez referred to Trump as his father in the days leading up to the attack.
“Dad’s big day,” Rodriguez wrote before January 6 in a pro-Trump chat forum. “I need to get ready to save America.”
In a letter to Fanone presented in support of his sentencing memorandum, Rodriguez takes a radically different tone.
“I wish I was smarter,” he admitted. “I should have protected you because I have a great deal of respect for law enforcement and have always supported police officers.” You are a brave man, and I wish you the best in the future. I’d also like to apologize to your children. If I could go back in time and change something, I would.”
Rodriguez asked for a term of 65 months in prison, or about 5 1/2 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced in front of the U.S. On June 21, Barack Obama appointed District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
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