A Virginia man is accused of placing pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committees the night before chaos ensued on January 6, 2021. On December 4, nearly five years after the incident, Brian Cole Jr. was arrested and charged with attempted assault on the U.S. Capitol. He denies targeting a specific political party. His next court appearance is a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday, December 30, at 1 p.m.
Pipe Bomber’s Arrest
Immediately following the suspected pipe bomber’s arrest, Cole appeared in Federal Court on December 5. He told authorities he wanted to “speak up” for the people who thought the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He targeted the country’s politicians who were in power, not Democrats or Republicans, but those “in charge.”
During his several-hour interview with authorities after his arrest, Cole allegedly admitted to his actions of placing the pipe bombs, although he initially denied any involvement. He continues to deny being a political person, but during the 2020 election, he followed news stories on YouTube and Reddit and claimed he felt “something was wrong.” His claims “that people’s votes are like just being thrown away,” were ignored.
Cole allegedly admitted he intended for the devices to detonate and had set 60-minute timers after planting them outside the two headquarters. After he placed them, he went to his car, picked up food from a restaurant in Virginia, and went home. He acted as if nothing catastrophic had happened or would happen.
“According to the defendant, he was not really thinking about how people would react when the bombs detonated, although he hoped there would be news about it,” the latest filing said. “The defendant stated that he had not tested the devices before planting them. He claimed that when he learned that the devices did not detonate, he was ‘pretty relieved,’ and asserted that he placed the devices at night because he did not want to kill people.”
Motive Behind Attempted Attack
The 30-year-old man told officials that “something just snapped” in him before allegedly placing the two pipe bombs near the RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the January 6 domestic terrorists stormed the capital.
Cole justified his actions by adding that if people “feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being — you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top. You know, just to, just to at the very least calm things down.”
In the prosecution’s most recent filing, they described the interview with Cole. “When asked why he placed the devices at the RNC and DNC, the defendant responded, ‘I really don’t like either party at this point,‘” they said. “[Cole] also explained that the idea to use pipe bombs came from his interest in history, specifically the Troubles in Ireland. The defendant denied that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6.”
Cole said he saw himself in videos released by the FBI that news stations were broadcasting, calling for the public’s help to reveal his identity. After those videos were released, he took all of his bomb-making materials to a nearby dump and never spoke about his actions in the ensuing five years. Authorities also claim he has wiped data from his cell phone “nearly one thousand times” since.
Brian Cole Intended to Harm
The prosecution urged the judge to keep Cole detained pending his trial. They argued his alleged actions and targeting the DNC and RNC “demonstrates the extreme and deeply dangerous nature of his conduct.” The fact that the devices did not detonate after the 60-minute timer went off was “luck, not lack of effort.” It is a miracle that no one was injured as a result of his actions.
“In his own words, the defendant did so because he did not ‘like either party,’ but ‘they were in charge’ and thus were, in the defendant’s mind, an appropriate target for extreme acts of violence,” prosecutors said. “The defendant’s choice of targets risked the lives not only of innocent pedestrians and office workers but also of law enforcement, first responders, and national political leaders who were inside of the respective party headquarters or drove by them on January 6, 2021, including the Vice President-elect and Speaker of the House.”
