REVEALED: Convicted January 6 rioter was turned in to FBI by his gay SON who he grilled while representing himself in court: Told offspring 'I'm proud of you and I love you'

A Minnesota man who was found guilty of attacking two Capitol officers during the January 6 insurrection is attempting to justify his actions to his gay son.

Recently found guilty on 11 counts related to the riot, 44-year-old Brian Mock allowed the The New York Times to sit in on the series of conversations.  

Mock is currently awaiting sentencing, and his adult son AJ, 21, proved integral in his arrest. He was one of several who turned him into feds after the attack, and testified that his father told him he might not come home afterwards.

Facebook posts penned by Mock after the attack indicated the same - with one one stating: ‘I went to the Capitol not knowing what to expect but said goodbye to my 4 children, not sure if I was going to come home. I was at peace with that knowledge.'

A federal judge eventually found Mock guilty of all charges he was faced with regarding the riot, including four counts of assault against lawmen. In exchanges documented by the Times, he tried to explain himself to the son he still respects. 

'There. That’s me,' he told AJ in one recorded conversation as they watched one of several clips used by feds of him taking part in the attack, pausing it when he came into frame. 

Zooming in on a man wearing a black jacket and a camouflaged hood seen shouting at a row of police officers stationed in front of the Capitol , Mock pressed play - turning up the volume so chants and explosions filled his Minneapolis apartment.   

'They stole it!' someone screamed in the clip in question. Another cried: 'We want our country back. Let’s take it. Come on!' according to The Times.

Meanwhile, a visibly disinterested AJ - who has been making the 40-mile trip to his dad's from his home in rural Wisconsin every few weeks - reportedly shifted in his chair, his face buried his phone.

The display, Times reporter Eli Saslow remarked, sparked a reprimand from the convict.  

'Can I get your undivided attention for a few minutes?' asked Mock, who is seen in several photos trying to lead his fellow rioters, before attacking two Capitol police and stealing their riot shield.

'I want you to know what really happened. It’s important to me,' the con continued, this time spurring a response from his son.  

'Sorry. It’s just that you showed me this one already,' said A.J, who is gay. 

'I’m tired.'

As AJ spoke, smoke from his vape flooded the room, and he fiddled with a rainbow strap on an attached keychain that read 'Love is love.'

In another exchange, Mock - who is facing six felonies and five misdemeanors for his actions that day - attempted to make amends by mapping out his activities with a diagram on a piece of paper, drawing the National Mall, the Peace Circle, and the Capitol, along with a food truck where he stopped for lunch.

'Because of course you needed tacos to storm the Capitol,' AJ reportedly responded, not doing much to veil his sarcasm.

Brian, in turn, retorted with his own joke - reportedly responding: 'What, you expect me to overthrow the government on an empty stomach?'

The quip, The Times reported, caused AJ to roll his eyes - and Brian to rev up another video on his laptop.

'There were throngs of people, like a river,' Brian said, narrating new footage of troves of Trump supporters moving toward the Capitol. 'You’re in the current. You’re getting pushed.'

A few minutes later, as a burst of fire lit up the screen, Mock - who was caught bragging about beating officers after the attack asserted: 'I had a concussion grenade go off and explode right on me.

'Can you see how that would provoke a crowd?'

At this point in the talk, he looked to his son for affirmation, but AJ, again, was staring down at his cellphone.

'Earth to AJ,' Mock reportedly remarked, annoyed. 

He added: 'I’m not some lunatic frothing at the mouth. I got in a bad situation for about five minutes. Do you see where I’m coming from?'

'I’m trying,' AJ responded.

For a man who posted to social media in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters after George Floyd’s murder and a self-professed Joe Biden voter, the term 'trying' could be somewhat understood.

According to accounts provided to the Times by the family, Mock - before being arraigned - publicly told AJ those protests were being portrayed as peaceful only by the 'liberal media,' calling it 'some bs propaganda.'

Brian wrote to A.J. on Facebook at the time: 'I know I raised you better than that.'

Prior to detailing what he experienced at the U.S. Capitol that led to his arrest and trial, Mock was seen by millions in photos trying to lead his fellow rioters, several of which showed him attacking at least one officer deployed to keep the peace.

Witnesses also reported Mock ‘pointing and aggressively shouting’ at officers, yelling multiple times, ‘Get out! Go!’ - with several photos and snippets of media cited by feds appearing to show much of the same.

One piece of evidence that proved damning was footage of him shoving one Capitol officer to the ground during the mayhem - almost causing him to get trampled by the unruly mob that Mock himself said possessed it own force.

The officer, identified as Stevin Karlsen, was then stripped of his riot shield by Mock, who in the picture is seen stepping forward with his right foot to push both hands against the shield.  

Karlsen was then filmed falling backward toward a marble step behind him, causing him to fear for his life, he testified in July.

'The best way I can describe what I was feeling was just panic at that point,' Karlsen said when asked by prosecutors about the vulnerability he felt as he fell to the ground.

The testimony - along with accounts of three other assaults committed by Mock and witnessed by others there that day - was enough for a federal judge to find the dad-of four guilty of all the charges laid against him.

Also used by the state in their case were a slew of social media posts penned by Mock before and after the insurrection, that showed his willingness to take part in the premeditated, politically motivated strike. 

One, a comment written on January 3, in part read: ‘This was not the war we wanted… but when thrust upon us we will fight with the ferocity and righteousness of a thousand angels.

‘When the deeds of these days are cast in the history books… will you be like the German citizens who watched Nazis take over their country or those who sat idly by through slavery and Jim Crow?

‘Get the hell out of the way or prepare to defend yourself. There has been a storm brewing and it will sweep through this country very soon.

Another posted on January 6, just after the attack, stated how he had been ‘Teargassed six times, pepper sprayed and mustard gassed at the end.

'But we stayed true to being Patriots, marched to the Capital[sic] and stormed the Frontline,' it continued. 'No regrets… ashamed of the blue that harmed everyone there to stand for the cause.

Another, penned two days later, showed how Mock was prepared to die and leave his four kids behind while fighting for his beliefs.

In it, Mock wrote: ‘I went to the Capitol not knowing what to expect but said goodbye to my 4 children, not sure if I was going to come home. I was at peace with that knowledge.

Another saw the father praise himself as a ‘real man’, before bragging about how he went to ‘war’ at the Capitol even if it meant leaving his kids behind.

‘I held my own and then some when I watched Capitol police beating women and old men. When faced with real men, free men, brave men, they fled with fear and tears in their eyes,' the January 8 post stated.

Also not helping were the witnesses who said they saw Mock and his girlfriend bragging about bringing down police-set barricades during the attack, while assaulting multiple officers and destroying federal property.

Afterwards, one person told investigators they heard Mock brag that he ‘beat the sh*t’ out of one officer – evidence that was eventually used against him in court.

After the initial shock of the incident was over, his face - like hundreds of others - was plastered across posters shared by the FBI.

Several showed him casually puffing a cigarette as he took part in the chaos, with his son eventually turning him in.

The Times report noted that Mock and his son were texting each other on January 6, during which his son reprimanded him for taking part in what was essentially a terrorist attack.

The situation paved the way for the following back-and-forth: 'What you guys did today was treason and a homeland security threat,' A.J. wrote. 

'In all reality, everyone there should be locked up for the rest of their lives. Including you.'

Mock, in turn, responded: 'You’ve got to be kidding me. We showed up and it was peaceful and then they gassed and attacked people.'

AJ subsequently shot back: You STORMED THE [EXPLETIVE] CAPITOL!'

Unconvinced, Mock insisted on his innocence. 

'They started the violence, and now they understand the measure of our resolve,' they wrote

'You have 4 kids at home. What the hell made you think this was a good idea? If that was a BLM protest, everyone would have been killed with no questions asked.'

Jurists in July held the same stance - handing down the stern judgment that will likely see Mock put behind bars for the next several years.

During the trial, where Mock unsuccessfully represented himself, prosecutors aired tentative plans to call AJ to the stand, but never did.

Instead, Mock called him to testify for the defense, creating a strange court dynamic where the pair's contrasting personalities and political views were on full display.

A.J. went on testify that his father exaggerated and engaged in hyperbole online, and said that he felt bad about turning his father into the FBI.

During cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon asked AJ if he would describe his relationship with his dad as complex, spurring the son to only respond that he loved his dad and that he did not want to see him go to prison.

A.J. also added that he was 'in shock' when his dad told him and other relatives that he didn't know whether he was going to be coming back after the more than 1,000 mile journey to DC.

The younger Mock, at the time, said he 'didn't know how to respond' to his dad's statement, claiming he wasn't sure if Mock meant he was going to die or simply get arrested.

Still, the lukewarm statements were not enough to save his father, who will be sentenced in January.

In the meantime, their meetings will continue - during which the pair told the Times that they hope to find at least achieve some semblance of understanding between one another, and perhaps some common ground.   

In another pair of exhanges observed by Saslow, Mock asked, 'What do you think about our relationship might be complicated?' to which his son replied, 'We don’t always see eye to eye on things. We’re both quite stubborn.'

The second came when AJ remembered summoning the courage to send his dad a text message with a link to a over-the-top YouTube song announcing that he was gay.

He remembered how his dad responsed mere moments later: 'I love you. I’m proud of you. But I’ll never forgive you for getting this dumb song stuck in my head.'

More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, with a noticeable uptick taking place this past summer, just before Mock's trial.

A Retired cop from New York who also assaulted police during the riot currently owns the distinction of worst sentence in relation to the attack, receiving ten years this past May.

That now can now be bested or at least equaled by Mock's sentence, after he flouted his his lawyer’s advice - pleading guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.

His fate will now be decided early next year.