The case is part of a strike force created by Michael R. Sherwin, the U.S. attorney in Washington, to examine violent actions that targeted members of the news media, the Justice Department said. Mr. Sherwin said at a recent news conference that it was “the height of hypocrisy” to attack journalists while invoking the First Amendment to justify illegally entering the Capitol.
Mr. DeCarlo was also seen in photos taken inside the Capitol during the riots wearing a shirt and hat that said “MT Media,” which investigators said stands for “Murder the Media.”
Prosecutors say that Mr. Nordean, carrying a bullhorn, led a 100-person mob and entered the Capitol with another top-ranking Proud Boys leader, Joseph Biggs, who is also facing charges in connection with the attack.
In a criminal complaint against Mr. Nordean, prosecutors said he and other Proud Boys “were planning in advance to organize a group that would attempt to overwhelm police barricades and enter” the Capitol.
The 21-page complaint also said that, before marching on the building, Mr. Nordean had a brief exchange with another man charged in the assault, Robert Gieswein, of Woodland Park, Colo., who has been accused of being a member of the far-right militia the Three Percenters.
Mr. Nordean, 30, of Auburn, Wash., was near the front of a crowd of rioters that confronted an outnumbered detachment of Capitol Police officers on Jan. 6, prosecutors said. Moving past the officers, prosecutors said, he and other members of the Proud Boys forced their way into the building.
Before the attack on the Capitol, Mr. Nordean gave hints of an “intent to organize a group that intended to engage in conflict,” according to a news release issued on Wednesday by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.
