FBI: Newspaper editor interfered with police at Capitol riot

A former top editor of an Orthodox Jewish newspaper in New York City was arrested Thursday on charges that he interfered with police officers who were trying to protect the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.

Elliot Resnick, 39, was chief editor of The Jewish Press when he joined the crowd of Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.

Videos show Resnick grabbing and holding the arm of a Capitol police sergeant who was spraying a chemical irritant to prevent rioters from entering the building, the affidavit says. Another officer tried to remove Resnick's hand from the sergeant's arm, the agent wrote.

The FBI arrested Resnick in New York City on charges including civil disorder and assault of or interference with law enforcement. Clay Kaminsky, an attorney representing Resnick in New York, declined to comment on the charges.

The Jewish Press, based in Brooklyn, bills itself as the largest independent weekly Jewish newspaper in the U.S. A statement on its website says it is “known for its editorial feistiness” and “was politically incorrect long before the phrase was coined.”

Politico reported in April 2021 that video showed Resnick inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Resnick later wrote an article defending the Capitol riot without acknowledging his presence in the building that day, Politico's report noted.

At the time, The Jewish Press publisher Naomi Mauer told Politico that the newspaper believed Resnick “acted within the law.” A statement from The Jewish Press editorial board confirmed Resnick was in the Capitol on Jan. 6 and had been “covering the rally and the rest of the day's terrible events” for the newspaper.

The editorial board wrote, “The Jewish Press does not see why Elliot's personal views on former President Trump should make him any different from the dozens of other journalists covering the events, including many inside the Capitol building during the riots.”