The FBI arrested a suspect Dec. 4 in the nearly five-year investigation into pipe bombs planted — but never detonated — outside the Republican and Democratic national party headquarters the night before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, federal officials said.
Authorities identified the suspect as 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, according to FOX News. Investigators have not yet identified a motive and have not disclosed what evidence ultimately linked him to the case.
Cole is charged with use of an explosive device, and additional counts are possible, Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a Dec. 4 press conference.
Bondi sharply criticized the Biden-era FBI for failing to advance the investigation despite ample evidence. She said the Trump administration has treated the case as a top priority and solved it using existing tips rather than new information.
“The total lack of movement on this case in our nation’s capital undermined the public trust of our enforcement agencies,” Bondi said. “This cold case languished for four years until Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino came to the FBI.”
Speaking at the conference, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro called the arrest a “huge win because it was like finding a needle in a haystack.” She noted that investigators had sifted through millions of data points to make the arrest.
Authorities originally discovered the bombs near both parties’ headquarters around the time thousands of protesters a few blocks away began moving toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, FOX reported. Even though they never detonated, authorities say both bombs were viable and pulled law enforcement away from the unrest unfolding at the Capitol.
Video footage released by the FBI previously showed an unidentified masked individual placing the devices more than 16 hours before they were found. The suspect wore a gray hoodie, Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers, and gloves, and his face was covered by a mask and glasses.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that solving the case required “new leaders,” not new evidence. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino spearheaded the investigation, Patel told the New York Post.
“When Dan Bongino and I came to the FBI in March, the pipe bomb investigation had been stalled for going on 5 years,” Patel said. “We rebuilt it from scratch — re-running every lead, re-testing every piece of evidence, bringing in top experts, and deploying new technology to engineer the break that finally nailed the suspect.”
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