Proud Boys Hawaii founder Nick Ochs arrested for unlawful entry at Capitol
The Proud Boys leader was arrested at the airport by FBI agents
Proud Boys Hawaii founder Nick Ochs has been arrested for trespassing at the U.S. Capitol.
The leader of the Hawaiian chapter of the Proud Boys was taken into federal custody on Thursday by agents, KHON2 reported. The FBI told the outlet that he was arrested without incident at Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. He was returning from Washington, D.C.
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An indictment was filed against him for unlawful entry into a restricted building which was revealed in court on Friday. Authorities used his social media posts and interview with CNN as evidence of him being present when the U.S. Capitol that was under siege by pro Trump supporters on Wednesday. They gathered in Washington in an attempt to stop the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election win.
The mayhem resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer, and the destruction of property.
“Hello from the Capital lol,” he captioned a tweet that showed him smiling in the U.S. Capitol building with a cigarette in his mouth.
Ochs, one of the alleged instigators, told CNN in an interview Wednesday night that he did not encounter any issue with entering the Capitol. The outlet identified him in a picture.
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“We didn’t have to break in, I just walked in and filmed,” Ochs said. “There were thousands of people in there — they had no control of the situation. I didn’t get stopped or questioned.”
Ochs added that he was only in the Capitol as a journalist as he has used the “Murder the Media” podcast and YouTube channel to express his extremist views. He denied entering the offices of any elected official.
Ochs unsuccessfully ran for state office in Hawaii last year. Roger Stone, a Trump ally, endorsed his candidacy. His Democratic opponent, Adrian Tam, welcomed the news of his arrest.
“I am really grateful for our FBI and our authorities for working diligently to bring these people to justice,” Tam told The Daily Beast. “I am disappointed it has escalated to this, and I hope that we start healing as a country, but that we do not normalize or sugarcoat this as anything less than an insurgence and an attack on our democracy.”
Ochs is currently being held at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu and is scheduled to appear in federal court next week.
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