Elon Musk claimed that the “Jan. 6 prosecutions have gone too far” after a conservative influencer was arrested by the FBI on Friday for allegedly entering the Capitol building during the riot—marking the latest instance of the billionaire SpaceX CEO taking a stance aligned with the hard-right.
Musk made the comment on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to a post from far-right media personality Ian Miles Cheong defending conservative influencer Isabella Maria DeLuca after her arrest by the FBI on Friday.
DeLuca, a former intern for former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said she would “fight back” in a tweet on Jan. 6, 2021, well after the crowd moved to the Capitol building and Congress began evacuating.
According to an affidavit unsealed Monday, both DeLuca and her mother told investigators in 2021 that she did go to the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, but did not go inside the Capitol.
Cheong claimed that DeLuca was “entirely peaceful” at the rally, and “extensive video footage proves she committed no acts of violence”—however, videos and photos uncovered by the FBI show that DeLuca did appear to enter the Capitol building, and helped others remove a table that was later used to “assault law enforcement officers guarding the Lower West Terrace Tunnel.”
DeLuca was arrested by FBI agents on Friday and charged with theft of government property, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in the Capitol and parading or demonstrating in the Capitol (she has not been arraigned or entered a plea as of Tuesday).
