Federal authorities arrested Proud Boy Hawaii founder and alternative right-wing media personality, Nick Ochs, in connection with the pro-Trump violence on the United States Capitol on Wednesday.
In an unsealed indictment in the DC District Court, Ochs – who promotes his extremist views online as part of the “Murder the Media” podcast and the YouTube team – is accused of breaking into a restricted building.
Attempts to contact him were not immediately successful and it was not clear whether he had a lawyer.
Several photos of Ochs participating in the chaos appeared online and in the press during and after the attack on the Capitol – including a selfie that Ochs shared on his Twitter account smoking a cigarette in the building.
A Federal Bureau of Investigations agent’s statement depends entirely on his own social media and an interview he gave CNN after the invasion, as well as his previous public statements. He also notes his association with the Proud Boys.
Ochs’ “Murder the Media” group first broke the news of Ochs’s arrest on the social media platform Parler, popular with far-right supporters, saying he had seen the casual coup as a journalist.
The Proud Boys echoed their claim on the Telegram messaging platform, another favorite of white supremacists and conservative provocateurs.
Ochs unsuccessfully tried for a seat in the Hawaii state legislature as a Republican last year. Proud Boy counselor, criminal and fellow Roger Stone endorsed his campaign.
Democratic candidate Adrian Tam won Ochs to represent District 22 – covering Waikiki, Ala Moana and Kakaako on Oahu – in the Hawaii House of Representatives. Tam won the seat with 63 percent of the vote and is now the only LGBTQ representative outside the Chamber of Deputies.
During the campaign, Facebook excluded the Ochs campaign page for violating community terms of service and standards, a move that Ochs condemned.
“I am very grateful to our FBI and our authorities for working diligently to bring these people to justice,” Tam told The Daily Beast on Friday. “I am disappointed that it has come to this, and I hope that we begin healing as a country, but that we do not normalize or embellish it as anything less than an insurgency and an attack on our democracy.”
During the campaign, Tam said, Ochs “operated mainly online and mainly in large demonstrations with his own supporters. He didn’t get involved with any of the members of our community. He never showed up at a single neighborhood council meeting. He’s just talk and no action. “
As for Ochs’ presence in the Capitol riot, Tam said: “I am not surprised that this has happened. I am more surprised that the Republican Party already knew who that person is and supported him throughout the election. (On Twitter, since the rebellion, the Republican Party of Hawaii has criticized Tam, but has so far made no mention of Ochs’ alleged actions.)
“It was only a day after it was known that he was part of this, and I was calling them on Twitter, that they reported him,” said Tam. “Even so, they didn’t release a statement. They just told the anchors. This is very sad. They should have reported him the minute he was banned from Facebook during the election. “