A federal judge sentenced Daniel Rodriguez in June 2023 to more than 12 years in prison for savagely attacking a police officer defending the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
The judge, Amy Berman Jackson, called Rodriquez a “one-man army of hate,” who in the days preceding the riot, called for “blood in the streets,” revolution, and violence against Donald Trump’s enemies in a group chat he created, CNN reported.
Prosecutors described how Rodriguez, who “idolized” Trump and the MAGA movement, charged toward the U.S. Capitol on January 6. He sprayed a fire extinguisher at the police and shoved at officers with a wooden pole before viciously attacking Officer Michael Fanone of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
After another rioter dragged Fanone toward the mob, Rodrigez shocked the police officer twice in the neck with an electroshock weapon. Fanone finally retreated before becoming unconscious.
“Tazzzzed the f**k out of the blue,” Rodriguez wrote on in a social media post while the riot was happening, prosecutors said.
Fanone suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury.
His injuries forced him to retire from the police department.
After the attack on Fanone, Rodriguez went inside the Capitol, attempted to break a window in the building and told others to “look for intel,” according to prosecutors.
There was no intel found among the rioters.
None.
Not a single brain cell.
When Rodriguez left the Capitol grounds, he sent a text message to a group that showed a gallows with the Capitol in the background. The text read, “No Democrats found unfortunately.”
Rodriguez expressed regret for his actions but after receiving his sentence, he smiled and shouted, “Trump won!”
Jackson called Rodriguez’s attack on Fanone a “horrific assault.” She said that while Rodriguez was trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power, Fanone “was protecting the very foundation of democracy.”
“He was protecting America,” she said.
