Feds Snare J6 Pipe-bomb Suspect; Investigation Ongoing

The FBI has arrested a suspect in the attempted pipe bombing of the Democratic and Republican national committees in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, the day of the mostly peaceful protest at the U.S. Capitol.

The suspect is Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, whom a federal criminal complaint identified as the figure in the now-famous video of a man planting bombs.

In announcing Cole’s arrest, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the case “languished” in FBI files for four years until FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, along with U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, focused on the case.

Two Pipe Bombs

Video footage, the complaint alleges, shows that the same man placed pipe bombs at the offices of both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) on January 5, the day before Congress was to validate the highly dubious victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Video captured the subject in “various locations in the surrounding neighborhood between approximately 7:34 p.m. and 8:18 p.m,” the complaint says:

In video surveillance, the individual was wearing dark pants, a grey hooded sweatshirt, dark gloves, Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes, and a facemask that obscured the person’s face. The video surveillance footage shows the individual adjusting eyeglasses at times. The video surveillance footage shows the individual carrying a backpack.

Video footage shows the individual traveling on foot though the surrounding neighborhood of the RNC and DNC, including portions of the route of travel between the two locations. Through video surveillance, the FBI recreated the individual’s path of travel, including timestamps associated with the individual’s location along the route. The individual placed the pipe bomb at the DNC at approximately 7:54 p.m. and at the RNC at approximately 8:16 p.m.

Not until the next day, however, did someone find the two bombs.

At 1:00 and 1:15 p.m. on January 6, Capitol Hill police answered calls about the suspicious devices at the two party headquarters.

“Both IEDs [improvised explosive devices] were manufactured using a collection of component parts and a main explosive charge. The component parts included a 1-inch by 8-inch pipe, end caps affixed to the pipe, 14-gauge electrical wire in red and black, alligator clips to connect the wires, a nine-volt (9v) battery, a nine-volt (9v) battery connector, a white kitchen timer, paper clips, steel wool, and homemade black powder,” the complaint says.

Cole’s Purchase of Bomb Parts

The complaint says that the 30-year-old Cole lives with his mother and works at a bail-bond office in Northern Virginia, and that the FBI obtained records from his checking accounts and six credit cards. 

Noting that he purchased the bomb parts at different stores, the complaint alleges that

during 2019 and 2020, COLE purchased multiple items consistent with the components that were used to manufacture the pipe bombs placed at the RNC and DNC.

He purchased six galvanized pipes from two Home Depots on or about June 1, June 8, and November 16, 2020.

Cole also purchased 14 end caps — 12 black and two galvanized — from four Home Depots on or about five dates between October 22, 2019 and November 16, 2020, the complaint alleges. He bought five nine-volt battery connectors from Micro Center on or about November 12 and December 28, 2019. He purchased two kitchen timers from Walmart on or about June 3, 2020, and the red and black electrical wire from Lowe’s and Home Depot on or about five dates between May 23, 2019 and November 24, 2020. On or about December 4, 2020 at Home Depot, he purchased steel wool (which was packed into the bombs).

Other items on Cole’s bomb-shopping list, the complaint alleges, are these items:

• Safety glasses on or about July 8, 2020;
• A wire stripping tool on or about November 14, 2020;
• Wire nuts, which are used to join wires together, on or about November 14, 2020;
• Sandpaper on or about November 21, 2020;
• A machinist’s file, a tool for shaping and smoothing metal parts, on or about November
• 21, 2020; and,
• Protective gloves and disinfecting wipes on or about November 24, 2020.

Strangely, Cole continued purchasing bomb-making materials after he placed the bombs on January 5, the complaint continues.

More Evidence; Charges

The FBI placed Cole at the scene of the crime by using his cellphone. It showed “seven data session transactions” with cell towers near the RNC and DNC on January 5 between 7:39 p.m. and 8:24 p.m. Agents correlated the cell phone transmissions with the video footage of Cole.

Last, at about 7:10 p.m. on January 5, a “license plate reader at the South Capitol Street exit from Interstate 395 South” photographed Cole’s Nissan Sentra “less than one-half mile from the location where the individual who placed the devices was first observed on foot.” Five minutes later, the cell towers connected with his cell phone, the complaint alleges.

Cole is charged with one count of transporting an incendiary device “to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property.” He also faces one count of “malicious destruction or attempted malicious destruction” with a bomb.

Probe Languished for Four Years

At a news conference yesterday, Bondi said the Biden administration sat on its hands.

“Today’s arrest happened because the Trump administration has made this case a priority,” Bondi said:

The total lack of movement on this case in our nation’s capital undermined the public trust of our enforcement agencies. This cold case languished for four years, until Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino came to the FBI. The FBI, along with U.S. Attorney Pirro and all of our prosecutors, have worked tirelessly for months, sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the FBI with the Biden administration for four long years.… There was no new tip, there was no new witness — just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work.

According to Bondi, the investigation is ongoing, federal agents are executing search warrants, and more charges might be forthcoming.