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Saul Loeb / Getty Images
Aaron Mostofsky is seen wearing furs and holding a stick and riot police gear during the assault on the Capitol.
The son of a Brooklyn judge has been arrested for taking part in last week’s deadly coup attempt at the Capitol, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Aaron Mostofsky, 34, is expected to appear in federal court Tuesday afternoon on multiple charges, including theft of government property, a felony. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Law enforcement allowed him to simply walk out of the Capitol on Wednesday and return home to New York.
On Tuesday, the FBI took him into custody from his home in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood.
BREAKING: Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a NY Supreme Court judge was arrested in Midwood Brooklyn on Tuesday morning for his alleged involvement in the Capitol riot.
Twitter: @NYScanner
His father is Steven “Shlomo” Mostofsky, Gothamist reported, a Kings County Supreme Court judge and prominent figure in Brooklyn’s modern Orthodox Jewish community. (Requests for comment to the judge were not immediately returned.)
Aaron Mostofsky did not take great pains to hide his identity during the violent riot in the halls of Congress, according to a criminal complaint provided to BuzzFeed News.
He was arrested thanks to an on-camera interview he gave to the New York Post from inside the Capitol, where he identified himself as Aaron from Brooklyn, and was seen wearing a bulletproof vest and riot shield with US Capitol Police insignia, which he claimed to have found on the floor.
Wearing the vest prominently labeled “POLICE” and a bizarre fur pelt, he told the Post he stormed the Capitol because he believed President Donald Trump’s lies that the election was rigged against him.
“We were cheated. I don’t think 75 million people voted for Trump — I think it was close to 85 million,” Mostofsky said in the interview. “I think certain states that have been red for a long time turned blue and were stolen, like New York.”
He also appeared in several of the most widely circulated photos from the insurrection, including this one, where he can be seen behind “QAnon Shaman” Jake Angeli’s horned hat.
Saul Loeb / Getty Images
Mostofsky went even further to flaunt his crimes, posting videos of the attempted coup on his Instagram account, “@aaron_mostofsky_official.” (The account appears to have since been deleted or banned.)
His brother Nachman Mostofsky — the vice president of the South Brooklyn Conservative Club and an elected district leader, who previously claimed to have connections “very high up in [the Trump] administration” — defended Aaron in an interview with Gothamist, spewing absurd explanations for his actions.
“My brother did nothing illegal,” Nachman said. “He definitely was not part of the riot.”
As explanation for why Aaron was, in fact, inside the Capitol during the riot, Nachman said he was “pushed inside.”
Saul Loeb / Getty Images
Nachman was also in DC the day of the attempted coup and said he had attended Trump’s rally but left prior to the storming of the Capitol.
“You’re full of shit. You’re a dishonest person. My brother went as a citizen of America,” Nachman told Gothamist. “You find me one [Black Lives Matter] riot or one antifa riot from over the summer that didn’t have way more damage.”
A lawyer representing Aaron Mostofsky did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.
In a statement Tuesday, William F. Sweeney, Jr., the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York office, confirmed the FBI had arrested Mostofsky and thanked the public for sending in tips that have helped to identify people who took part in the Capitol attack.
“For those in this area considering participating in future activity similar to Mr. Mostofsky’s alleged behavior, let me be clear,” Sweeney said. “The FBI will find you, arrest you, and do our part to ensure you face the full force of the federal criminal justice system.”
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