Hawaii Proud Boy In Pro-Trump Mob Pleads Not Guilty To Conspiracy
Nick Ochs faces a series of charges from his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that left five dead, including a police officer.
WASHINGTON 鈥 In a brief appearance before a federal judge Friday, Hawaii Proud Boy Nick Ochs and his co-defendant, Nicholas DeCarlo, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and other charges for their part in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Ochs and DeCarlo, a Texas man who is also affiliated with the far-right extremist Proud Boy gang, participated in the mob that attacked police officers and stormed through the halls of Congress in an attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden鈥檚 victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Trump is currently facing a second impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate for inciting the violence on Jan. 6 and priming his supporters with lies and false narratives about mass voter fraud that did not exist.
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It is unlikely Trump will be convicted by the Senate as most Republicans have said that impeaching a president who has already left office is unconstitutional despite numerous legal scholars鈥 opinions to the contrary.
Ochs, 34, and DeCarlo, 30, are part of a collective known as 鈥淢urder the Media,鈥 that livestreams and posts conservative commentary online.
Ochs had told CNN that he was at the Capitol working as a professional journalist as the rioters looted and vandalized the building.
Pictures posted online show him and DeCarlo standing in front of a door on which, investigators say, they had scrawled the words 鈥淢urder the Media.鈥
Ochs is a former Marine who graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Hawaii. He has worked for far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulis and in 2020 ran as a Republican for the state House of Representatives in Hawaii.
Ochs was endorsed by both the Hawaii GOP and Trump ally Roger Stone, who was just days before he was scheduled to go to prison after he was stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller鈥檚 investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Despite Ochs鈥 claims that he was inside the Capitol building working as a journalist, he did not apply for or have possession of any of the required credentials that are issued to reporters through the Senate Press Gallery.
Ochs and DeCarlo in prison if convicted.聽
