Name: California Trump Fanatic Charged With Assaulting Cop During Capitol Riot
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California Trump Fanatic Charged With Assaulting Cop During Capitol Riot

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US EditionU.S.CLOSEFollow usPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2021 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.BREAKING NEWSTap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you.Federal authorities have arrested Daniel Joseph Rodriguez, the 38-year-old fanatic who was identified as the man caught on camera assaulting a police officer during the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Rodriguez was on eight counts and arrested Wednesday, according to court records.Rodriguez was part of the mob that swarmed D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone, who pleaded for his life and suffered a mild heart attack. Rodriguez can be seen on video jabbing a small black device into Fanone’s neck — causing the officer to drop to the ground — before breaching the Capitol and trying to smash out a window.Fanone’s story went viral in the weeks following the insurrection. In media interviews, the father of four described being shocked with a stun gun and surrounded by rioters chanting, “Kill him with his own gun!” A  published Feb. 26 reported Rodriguez’s identity. HuffPost built off the work of the online and anti-fascist activists, who compiled footage of Rodriguez, a Fontana, California, resident, at the insurrection. HuffPost also interviewed witnesses who had previously encountered Rodriguez at pro-Trump rallies in Beverly Hills, as well as one of his former friends.The FBI received tips about Rodriguez in January, including one from a man Rodriguez assaulted on video at a Los Angeles-area rally. But it wasn’t until hours after HuffPost contacted the bureau in late February with questions about Rodriguez that the tipster heard from an FBI special agent seeking information specifically about Rodriguez.In a March 24 court filing requesting that Rodriguez’s indictment be sealed until his arrest, prosecutors wrote that Rodriguez “assaulted an officer with an electroshock weapon during the riot at the U.S. Capitol and has recently expressed a willingness to kill police officers.” Rodriguez is also accused of smashing out a Capitol window with a flagpole, and the grand jury indictment alleges he stole an emergency escape hood.Rodriguez, 38, is the second person to be charged directly in connection with the attack on Fanone. Thomas Sibick was in Buffalo, New York, on charges including including obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, assaulting or impeding officers, and taking a thing of value by force or intimidation. Sibick confessed to the FBI that he had stolen Fanone’s police badge and later buried it in his backyard.Like many Capitol insurrectionists, Rodriguez is a Trump superfan. His social media profiles are littered with “Make America Great Again” content, and he was a regular at pro-Trump demonstrations in Beverly Hills. In 2018, he was quoted in a local news story about the then-president’s brief visit to Los Angeles.Read the indictment against Rodriguez below:Calling all HuffPost superfans!Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapterDo you have information you want to share with HuffPost?Today is National Voter Registration Day!We made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote!

US EditionU.S.CLOSEFollow usPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2021 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.BREAKING NEWSTap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you.Federal authorities have arrested Daniel Joseph Rodriguez, the 38-year-old fanatic who was identified as the man caught on camera assaulting a police officer during the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Rodriguez was on eight counts and arrested Wednesday, according to court records.Rodriguez was part of the mob that swarmed D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Mike Fanone, who pleaded for his life and...

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HuffPost is an American news aggregator and blog, with localized and international editions. Founded by Andrew Breitbart, Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, the site was launched on May 9, 2005. In March 2011, it was acquired by AOL for US$315 million, making Arianna Huffington editor-in-chief. In 2015, Verizon Communications acquired AOL for US$4.4 billion and the site became a part of Verizon Media. In 2012, the website became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize.

California Trump Fanatic Charged With Assaulting Cop During Capitol Riot

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