Capitol rioters ‘manipulated’ by Trump

The Washington, DC police officer who was electroshocked by a Donald Trump supporter during the January 6 Capitol Hill riot has described his attacker as a “moron” and “misfit” who was “manipulated” by the former president.

DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, who was struck with a stun gun and accosted by Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol, said newly released footage of an FBI interview with assailant Danny Rodriguez shows how the rioters were “manipulated” by claims about a stolen election.

If you look at that and you can’t see the direct correlation between Donald Trump and his supporters’ quote-unquote ‘political speak’ and their actions on January 6, you’re an idiot.

But Fanone told HuffPost on Wednesday that he held “no f**king grudges... whatsoever” towards Rodriguez, since he saw a “lot of people that I know” in him. “He’s a moron and a misfit, and he was like many people looking for camaraderie, looking for something to belong to,” Fanone said.

Rodriguez, a 39-year-old California native, was arrested in March. Earlier this week, video from a March 31 interrogation was released that showed him confessing to being the person who was filmed striking Fanone with a stun gun. However, his defense attorneys are trying to get the confession to the FBI excluded on the grounds that Rodriguez was not properly advised of his Miranda rights.

During the interrogation, Rodriguez repeatedly cries and describes himself as “not smart,” “so stupid,” “an a**hole,” and a “f**king piece of s**t.” One of the FBI agents who questioned Rodriguez told him he should speak to them because “Antifa, Black Lives Matter and the Huffington Post” were “telling the Danny Rodriguez story” and he needed to tell his side of what happened on January 6.

“My story is just that we thought that we were going to save America, and we were wrong,” said Rodriguez, who apparently searched for “intel” in an office in the Capitol building after attacking Fanone. He added that the rioters thought that “we were going to save this country, we were doing the right thing” as part of a “plan to save the country, to save America, save the Constitution, and the election.”

Claiming there is a “clear pattern” of Trump supporters believing their actions were justified, Fanone said he wanted “accountability” from Rodriguez for “attacking a police officer who was protecting the Capitol and trying to protect members of Congress and democracy, and he came there to subvert that on behalf of Donald Trump.”