Pipe bomb suspect busted: How feds finally cracked the Jan. 6 cold case

The mystery that haunted the FBI for nearly five years — who planted those pipe bombs in DC the night before the Capitol riot? — came to a stunning end Thursday morning when agents swarmed a quiet Virginia cul-de-sac and arrested a 30-year-old bail bondsman who'd been hiding in plain sight.

Brian Cole Jr. was still in his Woodbridge home when the feds came knocking before dawn. Neighbors heard bullhorns. They saw hazmat suits. Two dozen dark SUVs lined the sleepy street where, as one shocked resident put it, "nothing ever happens."

But something had happened — something that could have changed history.

On the frigid evening of Jan. 5, 2021, a figure in a gray hoodie, face mask and distinctive Nike sneakers planted two live pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters in Washington NBC News. The devices sat there, ticking, for 16 hours.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was inside the DNC building that whole time. She walked within feet of the bomb when she arrived and was evacuated only after it was discovered the next afternoon CBS News — right as Trump supporters were storming the Capitol just blocks away.

The bombs never went off, but they were real. The FBI called them "viable devices that could have been detonated, resulting in serious injury or death" CBS News.

The evidence was there all along

Here's what's wild: The feds already had the goods on Cole. They just didn't connect the dots until now.

Attorney General Pam Bondi didn't mince words Thursday. "Let me be clear," she said at a packed Justice Department press conference. "There was no new tip, there was no new witness, just good, diligent police work" Axios.

Translation: The evidence that led to Cole's arrest had been sitting in FBI files since 2021 and 2022 MS NOW. The Trump administration took a victory lap, with Bondi slamming the Biden-era FBI for letting the case go cold.

But the investigation was genuinely massive. Agents conducted more than 1,000 interviews, reviewed 39,000 video files, and chased down over 600 tips ABC News. They even tracked sales of the specific Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes the suspect wore — fewer than 25,000 pairs had been sold NBC News.

Still, the suspect remained a ghost. Four years after the incident, the FBI still couldn't definitively state the suspect's gender ABC News, despite offering a $500,000 reward.

How they finally got him

When Trump's team took over, they assigned a fresh crew to go back through everything. That's when the pieces clicked.

Cole's cell phone had pinged towers near both party headquarters on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021 CBS News. License plate readers caught his 2017 Nissan Sentra driving past a checkpoint less than half a mile from where the bomber was spotted on foot CBS News.

And the shopping sprees. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Cole allegedly bought galvanized pipes, end caps, kitchen timers, battery connectors, electrical wire and steel wool from Home Depots and Walmarts across Northern Virginia NBC News — all the components you'd need to build a pipe bomb.

Investigators had to sift through 233,000 purchases of black end caps alone NPR to find the pattern.

The political firestorm

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino — who before joining the bureau claimed on his podcast that the pipe bombing was an "inside job" and said "This was a setup. I have zero doubt" CNNNBC News — stood alongside Bondi Thursday, celebrating the arrest.

There's been no evidence of any "inside job." The case was just brutally complex, with millions of data points to analyze and a suspect who wore pandemic-era gear that made him blend into the crowd NBC News.

What's next

Cole, who lives with his mom and works at his father's bail bonds business, faces federal charges for transporting explosives and attempted destruction of property. More charges could be coming.

The big question everyone's asking: Why? Court documents don't say. Officials declined to discuss Cole's possible motive, saying the investigation is still active CBS News.

Whatever his reasons, Cole allegedly came terrifyingly close to changing the course of American history. If those bombs had gone off with Harris nearby, Jan. 6 could have been even more catastrophic than it was.

Instead, after five years of conspiracy theories, dead ends and a $500,000 bounty, the mystery is finally solved — by going back and doing the homework that was always there to be done.

Lawsuit Alpha | Substack

The latest lawsuits and breaking news for you. Click to read Lawsuit Alpha, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Lawsuit AlphaLawsuit Alpha