Mike Theiler/Reuters
- Aaron Mostofsky, the son of Kings County Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Mostofsky, was arrested by agents of the New York chapter of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- His father, Shlomo Mostofsky, a prominent figure in the local modern Orthodox community was last year elected to the court with the support of local Democrats, according to Gothamist.
- According to the report, FBI agents were seen exiting Mostofsky’s home carrying animal skins and a walking stick, items Mostofsky was seen holding during the riot at the Capitol.
- At least five people died as a result of the violent insurrection last week, led by supporters of the baseless conspiracy theory that widespread voter fraud was responsible for President Donald Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
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Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a Kings County Supreme Court judge in New York, was arrested in Brooklyn on Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is facing federal charges in connection with last week’s deadly riot at the US Capitol.
Mostofsky was taken into custody by FBI agents in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn Tuesday, according to Gothamist. Agents were seen removing items from the basement apartment where Mostofsky was arrested, including animal skins and a walking stick, which Mostofsky had been seen carrying during last week’s riot, the report said.
The New York bureau of the FBI did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment.
Mostofsky is facing four federal charges including theft of government property, unlawful entry, and engaging in disorderly conduct, according to a criminal complaint.
In a video interview conducted during the riot with The New York Post, Mostofsky echoed the baseless claims made by the president and his allies.
"We were cheated," he told the New York Post. "I don't think 75 million people voted for Trump - I think it was close to 85 million. I think certain states that have been red for a long time turned blue and were stolen, like New York."
In the two months following his defeat to Biden in November, Trump refused to concede the race, leveraging baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud to justify his loss. Despite the repeated claims from him and his allies, lawyers for the president were unable to substantiate the claims in dozens of lawsuits that attempted to overturn results in states Trump lost.
Mostofsky's father, Shlomo, is a prominent figure in the local modern Orthodox community, Gothamist reported. He was elected to serve as a judge on the Kings County Supreme Court last year and was supported by local Democrats.
His father was previously the president of the National Council of Young Israel, an Orthodox synagogue association that has previously expressed a pro-Trump stance, according to JTA. Mostofsky's brother was also president at the "Stop the Steal" rally-turned-riot last week, though he said he left before the pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol, JTA reported.
At least five people died as a result of the violent insurrection on January 6, including a Capitol Police officer who died from injuries he sustained during the riot. Another police officer who was working during the siege on the building died days later in an apparent suicide, though it's not clear whether his death was related to the events Wednesday.
Authorities have asked the public to help identify individuals who participated in the violent insurrection and a number of people have since last week been arrested for their participation.