‘I’m a Piece of Sh*t’: Watch Capitol Rioter’s Tearful Confession to Tasing Officer Fanone

 

A newly released video of the FBI interviewing a Capitol rioter accused of tasing a police officer shows the defendant expressing remorse and regret over his actions, which he says were inspired by a call to come to Washington by then-President Donald Trump.

Daniel Joseph Rodriguez stands accused of shocking Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone with a stun gun during the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The Justice Department released a video Tuesday of Rodriguez’s March 2021 interview with federal officers, in which he apologized to the officer.

“This is not how we back the blue. And I tased one of them,” Rodriguez is shown saying to federal investigators.

“What do you want me to tell you? That I tased him?” Rodriguez said sobbing. “Yes. Am I a fucking piece of shit? Yes.”

Rodriguez, whens asked what he would say to Fanone today, responded:

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.

“Do you think he was doing the right thing?” the agent then asked.

“Yeah. He was doing his job,” Rodriguez responded.

“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 added, admitting to shocking the officer.

Elie Honig, CNNs senior legal analyst, explained the importance of Rodriguez’s words.

“First of all, they used this video against this defendant. They’ll convict him based on it,” Honig said.

“It’s actually a bit refreshing to see legitimate contrition and acceptance of how horrible these actions were,” he added. “It’s important to note that he was motivated by Donald Trump. They’re not saying Donald Trump personally contacted me or personally arranged for me to come in and storm the Capitol. They’re saying I was motivated by his words, by his conduct, his tweets, his actions. That’s a common theme we’re seeing across many of these Capitol rioters.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing