A far-right pro-Trump activist from Southern California pleaded guilty Tuesday to using a Taser on D.C. police officer Michael Fanone as he was dragged down the steps of the U.S. Capitol in one of the most violent assaults in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Daniel Rodriguez, 40, of the Los Angeles area, admitted to shocking Fanone in the base of his neck as he was pulled out of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel and into the crowd. Fanone lost consciousness and was stripped of his badge and gun; he suffered a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury.
“Omg I did so much f—ing s— rn and got away tell you later,” Rodriguez admitted texting a Telegram group, adding that he “tazzed the f— out of the blue.” He and others formed the Telegram group, called the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to five felony counts including conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice, and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
At sentencing May 16, he faces a recommended penalty of either between six-and-a-half years to eight years in prison, or eight to 10 years in prison — depending on whether his assault is found to have occurred while his police victim was under restraint, according to a plea deal with prosecutors.
According to court filings, Rodriguez attended pro-Trump rallies and pandemic protests in Southern California, where he became acquainted with co-defendant Edward Badalian and Beverly Hills salon owner Gina Bisignano, as first reported by HuffPost. Rodriguez told the FBI after Jan. 6 that he had become radicalized through watching videos on Alex Jones’s Infowars website and believed that civil war was imminent. He identified himself with the Three Percenters movement, which aspires to prepare armed Americans to fight against tyranny and named after the myth that 3 percent of American colonists supported the Revolutionary War.
Using the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang chat group, Rodriguez admitted that he and others advocated political violence against government officials and others they perceived as supporting the 2020 election results or backing liberal or communist ideologies. According to his indictment, a grand jury witness testified that Rodriguez said he would “assassinate Joe Biden” if possible and “would rather die than live under a Biden administration.” He also posted to the Telegram group, “Congress can hang. I’ll do it. Please let us get these people dear God.”
Rodriguez and others gathered gear — including a Taser, pepper spray, gas masks and walkie-talkies — and drove a rental car from California before joining a “caravan” in Kentucky, according to charging papers. Once in Washington, Rodriguez texted the Telegram group on Jan. 5, “There will be blood. Welcome to the revolution,” according to his indictment.
At the Capitol, Rodriguez admitted in plea papers that he climbed into the building through a broken window and attempted to break a window to another office by slamming it repeatedly with a flagpole. He encouraged other rioters to “look for intel” inside, opening bags and rifling papers until police cleared the room.
“There’s people that have taken over this country from inside, globalist and unelected officials, elitists, you know?” Rodriguez explained in his FBI interview, alluding to extremist and QAnon conspiracy theories that a “deep state” including Satan-worshipping pedophiles was opposing Trump.
Rodriguez eventually cried and apologized to Fanone in his FBI interview, according to a transcript and related court proceedings, after suggesting he used the Taser on Fanon to keep the officer from getting more seriously injured.
“I don’t know if I Tasered him to protect him, but maybe just to, like — so he wouldn’t struggle and get hurt, maybe,” Rodriguez said, before breaking down, apologizing and cursing himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said through tears. “I don’t know. He’s a human being with children, and he’s not a bad guy. He sounds like he’s just doing his job.”
Fanone has said he was nearly killed by the mob before appealing to their humanity by invoking his four daughters.
Rodriguez also admitted on Jan. 10 that he and others drove to the home of another person identified as “Person One” in court documents and attempted to facilitate the destruction of that person’s Jan. 6 related evidence. Rodriguez’s indictment identifies Person One as an individual who identified Badalian by his first name, Ed, instead of his pseudonym, Turbo, while discussing riot video of Badalian on Infowars two days earlier. Bisignano matches the description of Person One.
Bisignano pleaded guilty in August 2021 to felony rioting and misdemeanor trespassing offenses, but is pending sentencing after seeking to withdraw a guilty plea to a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding. That charge is under appeal in Jan. 6 cases before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Badalian has pleaded not guilty and faces trial later this month.