On Wednesday (June 21), a supporter of former President Donald Trump, who drove a stun gun into the neck of a Washington police officer, was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison.
Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez, a California resident, committed the attack on January 6, 2021, as the mob abducted the police officer during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. After his sentencing, he shouted, “Trump won.”
Rodriguez traveled to Washington with several other Trump supporters of the “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang,” a Telegram group.
In February, the California resident pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of an official proceeding conspiracy, tampering with documents or proceedings, and inflicting bodily injury on officers with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
On January 5, 2021, a day before the attack wrote on the Telegram group that “There will be blood,” hours before he attended the Ellipse rally near the White House.
On January 6, after joining the attack on the Capitol’s lower west tunnel where extreme violence played out, Rodriguez attacked Officer Michael Fanone, bragging about his actions later on the Telegram chat.
Rodriguez wrote, “Omg I did so much f***ing s***,” bragging that he had gotten away with his action, adding that he had tased the officer “out of the blue.”
Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Rodriguez to 151 months in prison, describing him as a “one-man army of hate” who attacked the police officer and destroyed property.
Berman added that although Trump had made “irresponsible and knowingly false claims” about the 2020 election being stolen, Rodriguez was responsible for his behavior.
