| Followers | 38 |
| Posts | 13289 |
| Boards Moderated | 0 |
| Alias Born | 07/09/2002 |
Thursday, June 22, 2023 12:46:32 PM
Donald Trump supporter, Daniel "D.J." Rodriguez, who drove a stun gun into the neck of a Washington police officer who was abducted by the mob during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol shouted "Trump won" after he was sentenced to 12½ years in prison Wednesday, multiple people present in the courtroom said.
Rodriguez traveled from California to DC with fellow Trump supporters who belonged to a Telegram group called the "PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang," pleaded guilty in February to felony conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents or proceedings and inflicting bodily injury on officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
"There will be blood," Rodriguez wrote in a "MAGA Gang" Telegram chat on the night of Jan. 5, 2021, just hours before he attended Trump's rally at the Ellipse near the White House. "Welcome to the revolution.” - On Jan. 6, after having joined the fight in the Capitol's lower west tunnel — where some of the most violent scenes of the day played out — Rodriguez attacked Officer Michael Fanone, later bragging about his actions in the Telegram chat.
“Omg I did so much f---ing s--- [right now] and got away,” he wrote to fellow members of the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang. “Tazzed the f--- out of the blue.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed Rodriguez's 151-month sentence, saying he was a “one-man army of hate, attacking police officers and destroying property,” on Jan. 6. Rodriguez was responsible for his own behavior even if Trump had been making "irresponsible and knowingly false claims that the election had been stolen," she said.
Fanone, Jackson said, was "protecting the very essence of democracy," and Rodriguez was "among the most serious offenders" on Jan. 6. "He's not just a follower; he calls for action," Jackson said, referring to Rodriguez's violent rhetoric immediately after Trump lost the 2020 election. Jackson said there was no indication that Rodriguez had any mental or cognitive impairments, referring to him as "a man of average intelligence."
Ahead of his sentencing, Rodriguez spoke for about 20 minutes in a rambling speech, saying he “truly” thought a civil war was going to begin and that he believed the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers formed because police were standing down across the country. He acknowledged his actions against Fanone but stopped short of an apology.
"Life has always seemed unfair to me," Rodriguez said, speaking of inequality in the country before referring to himself as "an American supremacist." If he were allowed to go home, Rodriguez said, he would go back to "driving a forklift with my GED and living with my mom," claiming he did not present a future threat.
Fanone, speaking after Rodriguez's subsequent outburst, said, "It’s been clear by the defendants' own behavior that there is no remorse, at least for the individuals in which I came in contact with on Jan. 6 who are criminally charged."
Fanone said Rodriguez's "half-hearted attempt to apologize for his conduct" and later outburst showed that stiff sentences were "the best assurance that we have that this won’t happen again."
"These are Americans that engaged in seditious activity," Fanone said. "I believe that they were traitors, and they should be sentenced accordingly. We need to stop treating these people as anything other than enemy combatants of our democracy."
Before Rodriguez's sentencing, Fanone called Rodriguez's life story "pathetic" and said he himself had lost his career, friends and faith in the criminal justice system because of what he went through that day.
Rodriguez traveled from California to DC with fellow Trump supporters who belonged to a Telegram group called the "PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang," pleaded guilty in February to felony conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents or proceedings and inflicting bodily injury on officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
"There will be blood," Rodriguez wrote in a "MAGA Gang" Telegram chat on the night of Jan. 5, 2021, just hours before he attended Trump's rally at the Ellipse near the White House. "Welcome to the revolution.” - On Jan. 6, after having joined the fight in the Capitol's lower west tunnel — where some of the most violent scenes of the day played out — Rodriguez attacked Officer Michael Fanone, later bragging about his actions in the Telegram chat.
“Omg I did so much f---ing s--- [right now] and got away,” he wrote to fellow members of the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang. “Tazzed the f--- out of the blue.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed Rodriguez's 151-month sentence, saying he was a “one-man army of hate, attacking police officers and destroying property,” on Jan. 6. Rodriguez was responsible for his own behavior even if Trump had been making "irresponsible and knowingly false claims that the election had been stolen," she said.
Fanone, Jackson said, was "protecting the very essence of democracy," and Rodriguez was "among the most serious offenders" on Jan. 6. "He's not just a follower; he calls for action," Jackson said, referring to Rodriguez's violent rhetoric immediately after Trump lost the 2020 election. Jackson said there was no indication that Rodriguez had any mental or cognitive impairments, referring to him as "a man of average intelligence."
Ahead of his sentencing, Rodriguez spoke for about 20 minutes in a rambling speech, saying he “truly” thought a civil war was going to begin and that he believed the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers formed because police were standing down across the country. He acknowledged his actions against Fanone but stopped short of an apology.
"Life has always seemed unfair to me," Rodriguez said, speaking of inequality in the country before referring to himself as "an American supremacist." If he were allowed to go home, Rodriguez said, he would go back to "driving a forklift with my GED and living with my mom," claiming he did not present a future threat.
Fanone, speaking after Rodriguez's subsequent outburst, said, "It’s been clear by the defendants' own behavior that there is no remorse, at least for the individuals in which I came in contact with on Jan. 6 who are criminally charged."
Fanone said Rodriguez's "half-hearted attempt to apologize for his conduct" and later outburst showed that stiff sentences were "the best assurance that we have that this won’t happen again."
"These are Americans that engaged in seditious activity," Fanone said. "I believe that they were traitors, and they should be sentenced accordingly. We need to stop treating these people as anything other than enemy combatants of our democracy."
Before Rodriguez's sentencing, Fanone called Rodriguez's life story "pathetic" and said he himself had lost his career, friends and faith in the criminal justice system because of what he went through that day.
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
