Video Shows Capitol Rioter Daniel Rodriguez, Who Tased Cop, Crying During FBI Interrogating

The Department of Justice on Tuesday released footage of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s interrogation of a man who was arrested and charged with assaulting Metropolitan Department Police Officer Michael Fanone with a Taser during the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the release.

Daniel Joseph Rodriguez, a resident of Fontana, California, pleaded not guilty after he was apprehended in March. He is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial.

In his conversation with the FBI, Rodriguez admitted to having traveled to Washington, D.C. on former President Donald Trump‘s orders and tearfully expressed remorse over what he had done to Fanone and the country he claims to love.

“This is not how we back the blue. And I tased one of them,” Rodriguez said. “I’m sorry he had to go through that. It’s not right that he had to suffer like that. And it puts fear in him and worrying about his life. He was scared for his own life and thought about having to kill us. And he was willing to die because of his beliefs, too.”

When agents asked Rodriguez if Fanone was “doing the right thing” by defending the Capitol against the horde of Trump supporters that laid siege to the complex, Rodriguez replied, “yeah. He was doing his job.”

Rodriguez also recalled how he felt immediately after zapping Fanone with a stun gun.

“I mean, that sounds stupid. 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,” he said. “If they’re going to beat him up or injury him or, like – I don’t know if they’re going to – I don’t know what was going to happen to him. And, honestly, I didn’t think very much about it because, when I did it, I was like, oh, my God. What did I just do? And I got out of there. I left. I did it and I left.”

Rodriguez struggled to explain why he chose to attack Fanone.

“What do you want me to tell you? That I tased him? Yes,” Rodriguez said. “Am I (expletive) piece of (expletive)? Yes. I’m a piece of (expletive). I’m sorry. 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.”

Toward the end of the interview, Rodriguez explained why he crossed the country to participate in the Trump rally.

“The preparations were for BLM and Antifa. We thought that they were going to go – we thought we were going to hit it like a civil war. There was going to be a big battle. This is what I thought,” he says in the video. “I thought that there was going to be fighting, for some reason, in different cities and I thought that the main fight, the main battle, was going to be in D.C. because Trump called everyone there.”

He then confessed that the plan to overthrow the government was ill-conceived.

“I thought we were going to occupy the building. I thought we were going to take a couple days or something. I honestly thought it might be, like, a day or two that we were going to be in there and I thought that they were going to gas mask – I mean, not gas mask. I thought they were going to tear gas us, so we needed either an escape route or a breathing hole,” he said.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” Rodriguez sobbed. “I didn’t know that we were doing the wrong thing. I thought we were doing the (expletive) right thing. I thought we were going to be – I’m so stupid. I thought I was going to be awesome. I thought I was a good guy. I wanted to – you know, my whole life, I’ve been, oh, (expletive) the police. I really have.”