WASHINGTON — Nick Ochs, the founder of the Hawaii Proud Boys who faces criminal charges for storming the U.S. Capitol to halt the certification of results for the 2020 presidential election, has hired a 9/11 defense lawyer to represent him.

Federal court records show Ochs’ new lawyer is Edward MacMahon Jr., of Virginia, who once defended Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person ever tried and convicted in the U.S. for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 dead.

A screen shot from a recent DOJ charging document shows Nick Ochs, middle, posing with fellow Proud Boy Nicholas DeCarlo, left, and Jake Angeli, the so-called QAnon Shaman on Jan. 6, the day Trump supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol. U.S. Justice Department/2021

MacMahon has taken on a number of high profile national security cases, including those involving a former CIA agent accused of spying for China and another in which an American Islamic scholar was charged with soliciting treason by trying to convince his followers to train for jihad against the U.S.

Ochs is charged with a single misdemeanor count of unlawful entry into restricted buildings or grounds, which can result in a penalty of up to a year in prison if he’s convicted.

He was arrested in Hawaii after he posted video and images of himself inside of the U.S. Capitol when supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked police and overran security in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the November election.

Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died as a result of the insurrection.

Ochs, who graduated from the University of Hawaii, has said he was at the Capitol working as a journalist, although there’s no record of him securing the proper credentials from the Senate Press Gallery to be inside the building.

Ochs ran for the Hawaii State Legislature in 2020 as a Republican. He was endorsed by the Hawaii GOP and lost to Democrat Adrian Tam.

Among the images Ochs posted online as the mob overran the Capitol grounds is one of himself and another Proud Boy, Nicholas DeCarlo, posing next to a door in which someone scrawled the words, “Murder the Media.”

Both Ochs and DeCarlo, who has also been charged, are part of a group with the same name that streams far-right content.

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