AUTHORITIES in the United States have arrested a suspect believed to be involved in leaving pipe bombs near two major political headquarters in Washington, DC, during the night before the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice identified the suspect as Brian Cole Jr in a joint news conference.
“ I know some people have given up on finding the perpetrator. But not the FBI and not our partners,” said Darren Cox, a deputy assistant director in the FBI.
He explained that the investigation involved sorting through “3 million lines of data”.
“We do not forget, we do not give up, and we do not relent. Though it had been nearly five years, our team continued to churn through massive amounts of data and tips that we used to identify this suspect,” Cox said.
Officials under President Donald Trump also touted the arrest as a victory for the current Republican administration — and a sign of the incompetence under Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
“We did not discover any new information,” FBI Director Kash Patel said on Thursday.
“An investigation spearheaded by the deputy director and the AIC [agent in charge] of our Washington field office brought in a new team of investigators and experts, reexamined every piece of evidence, sifted through all the data — something that the prior administration refused and failed to do.”
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who was also at the news conference, explained that Cole would be charged with transporting an illegal explosive device and attempting “malicious destruction by means of explosive materials”.
She added that the investigation was ongoing and that further charges could be filed at a later date.
The arrest potentially ends a nearly five-year-long mystery that underscored the rising threat of political violence in the US.
Law enforcement agencies have said that the bombs, which did not explode, were viable and “could have seriously injured or killed innocent bystanders”. Cox reaffirmed that risk on Thursday.
“Fortunately, these bombs did not explode, although they certainly could have,” Cox said.
“We all know pipe bombs are dangerous, not because of the potential loss of life, the damage the property or injury that they can cause, but also because they are tools that terrorise our community.”
Police and law enforcement had gathered early on Thursday morning in a residential neighbourhood in Woodbridge, Virginia, to take Cole into custody.
At Thursday’s news conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi emphasised that the suspect had remained close to Washington, DC, even after the pipe bomb incident.
“This is in our nation’s capital where this happened,” she said of the attempted pipe bombing. “And now, thanks to the FBI, we know that this defendant was living just miles away from here, in Virginia.”
The targets of the 2021 pipe bombing attempt appeared to be the headquarters for the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, which represent the two biggest political parties in the US.
Early on, authorities released grainy footage of the person who left the bombs. The suspect, long believed to be a man, was captured on surveillance cameras wearing a mask, gloves and a grey hoodie.
On the night before January 6, 2021, the perpetrator had walked through the densely populated Capitol Hill neighbourhood to arrive near the political party headquarters offices, where he placed the pipe bombs.
The day after the bombs were left, President Trump’s supporters stormed and ransacked the US Capitol to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 elections.
Trump continues to falsely claim that his election loss that year was due to widespread voter fraud.
In one of his first decrees after returning to the White House early in 2025, Trump issued a presidential pardon for more than 1,500 people charged or convicted of criminal offences related to the riot.