Jan 6 pipe bomb suspect confessed that ‘something just snapped’ after 2020 election, DOJ says
A man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees before the January 6, 2021 attack told investigators after his arrest that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen, according to federal prosecutors.
He said he targeted the political party headquarters because they were “in charge,” according to a new filing from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, allegedly told investigators that “something just snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse” in the wake of the election.
Cole was arrested earlier this month and charged with transporting explosives across state lines and with maliciously attempting to use the bombs to damage or destroy property.
Authorities had not previously outlined a possible motive for the pipe bombs or detailed any connection between the devices and the Capitol insurrection. But it was previously reported that Cole appeared to tell agents that he believed conspiracy theories that President Donald Trump was cheated out of the 2020 election.
According to new details in the Sunday filing, Cole admitted in an interview following his arrest that on the day of the attack he “was going to a protest in support of [then President] Trump” but later admitted he traveled to Washington, D.C., specifically to plant the pipe bombs, not to attend the protest.
Trump continues to falsely insist that the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him, claims that launched a spurious legal battle to overturn results and fueled a mob that stormed the halls of Congress in an attempt to block Joe Biden’s victory.
Cole admitted to investigators that he “has never really been an openly political person” and that “no one knows” his political views, including his family, according to Sunday’s filing.
“I didn’t agree with what people were doing, like just telling half the country that they — that their — that they just need to ignore it. I didn’t think that was a good idea, so I went to the protest,” Cole said, according to the filing. “If people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then … at the very least someone should address it.”
But when asked why he targeted the RNC and DNC headquarters, Cole responded “I really don’t like either party at this point.”
He added that he wanted to do something “to the parties” because “they were in charge.”
Cole initially maintained that he did not plant the devices. But after investigators showed him a photo of a Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoe worn by the suspect seen on surveillance footage, he admitted that he “used to have a pair” and said he “threw them away” because “they were old and they were coming apart.”
Federal agents then reminded him that lying to them could result in additional criminal charges. Asked again whether it was him in the video, Cole then paused for approximately 15 seconds, “placed his head face down on the table, and answered, ‘yes,’” according to the filing.
But Cole denied that the pipe bombs were directed at Congress or tied to the certification of the electoral college votes at the Capitol.
He “explained that the idea to use pipe bombs came from his interest in history, specifically the Troubles in Ireland,” according to the filing.
The Justice Department is asking a judge to detain Cole pending trial, arguing there is an “intolerable risk that he will again resort to violence to express his frustration with the world around him.”
During his interview, Cole also walked investigators through the construction, transportation, and placement of the pipe bombs in detail, according to the filing.
He revealed that he learned how to make the powder from a video game that listed the ingredients and supplemented that knowledge by watching science-related videos on YouTube, investigators said.
Cole then said he transported the devices to D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021, inside a shoebox in the back seat of his Nissan Sentra. He wore a mask, hood, and gloves to avoid identification and fingerprints and used Google Maps to locate the RNC and DNC headquarters, the filing stated.
He told investigators he placed one device near the DNC, setting the timer to its maximum 60-minute duration, then returned to his car to retrieve the second device and walked to the RNC, where he repeated the process, investigators said.
The devices — which the FBI previously described as “viable” and “could have seriously injured or killed innocent bystanders” — did not detonate.
According to the arrest affidavit viewed by The Independent, Cole’s checking account and six credit cards show purchases between 2019 and 2020 of materials consistent with the devices left at the DNC and RNC — including galvanized pipes, end caps, battery connectors, kitchen timers, wires, and homemade black powder ingredients.
Cole’s phone reportedly connected to Washington-area cell towers seven times between 7:39 p.m. and 8:24 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021. The towers included coverage areas for both the DNC and RNC headquarters. Those timestamps align with surveillance footage showing the person planting the bombs.
About 20 minutes before the planting was captured on video, a license plate reader scanned Cole’s vehicle as he exited I-395 onto South Capitol Street, less than 1.5 miles from the bomb locations. The FBI also noted Cole had visited the area several weeks earlier, eating at a nearby restaurant December 14, 2020.
When Cole saw himself on the news, he discarded all his bomb making materials at a nearby dump, according to the filing.
Cole is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
