Ex-Zeldin Intern Charged in Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riot

A woman who previously interned for Lee Zeldin, the former congressman for the East End, has been charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and passing a stolen table out of a broken window, allowing other rioters to use it as a weapon against police, according to recently unsealed court records.

Isabella Maria DeLuca, a conservative social media influencer from Setauket, was arrested on March 15 in Irvine, California, on misdemeanor charges, including theft of government property, disorderly conduct and entering a restricted area.

The 24-year-old woman, who has more than 333,000 followers on the platform formerly known as Twitter, works as a media associate for The Gold Institute for International Strategy. DeLuca’s profile on the institute’s website says she served as an ambassador for the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA.

DeLuca also interned for Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who — like Zeldin — is a Republican who supported former President Donald Trump.

DeLuca didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Online court records don’t list an attorney representing her. A spokesperson for the Gold Institute for International Strategy said, “following further internal investigation, we felt it necessary to sever our relationship.”

During the Jan. 6 riot, DeLuca replied to a Twitter post by writing, “Fight back or let politicians steal and election? Fight back!”

Videos captured her entering a suite of conference rooms inside the Capitol through a broken window on the Lower West Terrace. She passed a table out of the window and then climbed back outside through the same window. A table that another rioter threw at police resembled the one that DeLuca passed out the window, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

DeLuca posted about the riot for days after the Jan. 6 attack. When an Instagram user asked her why she supported breaking into the Capitol, she responded, “According to the constitution it’s our house.”

Several days later, she posted on social media that she was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and had “mixed feelings.”

“People went to the Capitol building because that’s Our House and that’s where we go to take our grievances. People feel, as do I that an election was stolen from them and it was allowed,” she wrote.

When the FBI questioned her roughly two weeks after the Capitol attack, DeLuca denied entering the building on Jan. 6, the agent’s affidavit says.

More than 1,300 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes, including nine others from Long Island. Over 800 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds getting a term of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.