Michael Fanone, the D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was electroshocked with a Taser-like device during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, doesn’t disagree with his alleged attacker, Daniel Rodriguez, who tearfully called himself “stupid” and an “asshole” during an FBI interrogation.
“I do agree with his self-assessment,” Fanone told the Washington Post Wednesday, after video footage of the interrogation was released.
Fanone described Rodriguez in a HuffPost interview as one of the “buffoons” who was “manipulated” by then-President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.
“He’s a moron and a misfit,” Fanone said of the alleged insurrectionist.
However, the officer also struck a note of sympathy for Rodriguez, saying he had “no fucking grudges towards” the Trump supporter “whatsoever.”
“He was like many people looking for camaraderie, looking for something to belong to,” Fanone said.
The video shows that during Rodriguez’s interview, which was held in March, the defendant broke down and wept while asking the investigators, “Are we all that stupid that we thought we were going to go do this and save the country and it was all going to be fine after? We really thought that. That’s so stupid, huh?”
At another point, Rodriguez said of Fanone, “He’s a human being with children, and he’s not a bad guy. He sounds like he’s just doing his job and he’s — I’m an asshole.”
Rodriguez’s tears were a stark contrast to the John Rambo persona he’d put out in his “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang” group chat on Telegram, where prosecutors say he and several fellow Trump supporters conspired to attack the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6.
“There will be blood,” Rodriguez allegedly wrote on Jan. 5. “Welcome to the revolution.”
