Capitol rioter stuns reporter with 'one of the most self-deluded statements' ever in court

Capitol rioter Danny Rodriguez stunned a reporter on Wednesday when he went on a long diatribe during his sentencing hearing.

According to WUSA9 reporter Jordan Fischer, Rodriguez's apparent plea for leniency was "easily one of the most self-deluded statements I've heard in any of these Jan. 6 sentencings."

Fischer says that Rodriguez not only expressed no remorse for his actions, which included the tasering of former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, but also a claim that he went to Washington D.C. to "protect" the city when a civil war erupted after Trump refused to leave office.

What's more, writes Fischer, Rodriguez "only mentioned Officer Fanone once to say, 'He seems like he's still in a great deal of pain.'"

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Fanone, who was watching Rodriguez's sentencing hearing, told NBC News' Ryan Reilly that Rodriguez "would have been better to have just said nothing" than to have delivered what Reilly called a "rambling, incoherent speech."

Rodriguez was subsequently sentenced to twelve-and-a-half years in prison, one of the longest Capitol riot sentences to date, reports NBC News.

Rodriguez, who told investigators that he saw Trump as a "father" figure, pleaded guilty earlier this year to four felony counts of conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents and inflicting bodily injury on an officer with a dangerous weapon.