Feds Charge Virginia Man Over Jan. 6 Pipe Bombs

After nearly five years, the FBI arrested a Virginia man on Thursday on suspicion of planting two pipe bombs on January 6, 2021.

A charging document showed that Brian Cole Jr. faces one count of transporting an explosive device with intent to kill and a second count of “malicious destruction or attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials.”

Cole bought several components used in the pipe bombs, an FBI agent said in an affidavit filed in the case. Those allegedly include electronics, wires, pipes, and other parts of the bombs. The agent, who wasn’t named in the document, described the explosive component as being “homemade black powder.”

Neither of the two pipe bombs on January 6 exploded, though their placement certainly drew attention: one was at the DNC, and the other at the RNC. Law enforcement responding to the storming of the Capitol that day were diverted as the bombs were discovered.

Cole traveled to D.C. on the evening of January 5, the affidavit said. A license plate reader captured Cole’s car exiting the freeway for the Capitol Hill area at 7:10 p.m., agents said, before cell phone towers that serve the area near the two parties’ headquarters picked up his phone between 7:39 p.m. and 8:24 p.m. that night.

We don’t know much about Cole’s ideological background. Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to answer a question at a press conference on Thursday about Cole’s potential motive, and whether it was political. Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and former podcaster-turned-FBI co-Deputy Director Dan Bongino all showed off their long-honed rhetorical skills in finding ways to describe the significance of the bombs without going into why the day happened: the current President egged on a mob to attack the Capitol in a last-ditch effort stay in power after having lost the 2020 election.

“What I will say is this is why this was so incredibly important, more than any other case, is that this is in our nation’s capital where this happened,” Bondi explained at one point.

For a long time, FBI agents had scoured purchases of clothing that a suspect caught by CCTV footage appeared to be wearing, including a pair of Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes. The affidavit mentions the shoes, but omits any evidence that Cole bought them.

Federal law enforcement tracked Cole’s behavior both before and after January 6, the affidavit suggests. At one point, the FBI agent says that Cole made a purchase at a Capitol Hill restaurant on Dec. 14, 2020. After January 6, Cole allegedly bought more parts, including pipes and nine-volt battery clips, that could be used to make more bombs.

All in all, the affidavit suggests that FBI agents managed to narrow the number of people who both bought components that matched those used in the pipe bombs and were present near the DNC and RNC before the bombs were placed to Cole. But there’s an odd gap: given that the bombs were placed to coincide with January 6, the affidavit stays entirely silent on what Cole may have been saying to others. There’s no suggestion of motive in the affidavit. The DOJ and FBI’s MAGA leadership showed uncharacteristic sobriety in holding back from discussing any possible reason or belief that Cole may have had for why he did it.

The federal prosecutor on the case is named Jocelyn Ballantine. She spearheaded the seditious conspiracy prosecution of the Proud Boys. Group leader Enrique Tarrio wound up with a 22-year prison sentence before President Trump pardoned him earlier this year. Before that, Ballantine represented the DOJ in 2020 as it sought to undo its prosecution of Michael Flynn. That took place at the direction of then-Attorney General Bill Barr.

An October 2024 TPM report noted that cell tower data was a component of the investigation.