A northern Virginia man was arrested and accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, federal authorities announced Thursday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi identified the suspect as Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia. Cole was charged with use of an explosive device, Bondi said, and additional charges are possible as the investigation continues. He is the first suspect arrested in the yearslong pipe bomb probe.
Court filings and statements at a news conference said Cole lives with family in Woodbridge and works in a bail bonds office. Prince William County Schools confirmed he graduated high school in 2013. Cole was arrested early Thursday morning, and investigators were executing search warrants through the afternoon, Bondi said.
A probable cause affidavit filed by an FBI agent says Cole allegedly bought multiple items in 2019 and 2020 consistent with components used in the pipe bombs. Cellphone provider records in the affidavit place Cole’s phone near the DNC and RNC headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021, at the time surveillance footage shows the person who planted the devices. License plate reader data also reportedly placed Cole’s car less than half a mile from where the individual was seen on the footage.
The court documents do not reference the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and Bondi declined to detail a possible motive during Thursday’s briefing. “Right now, it’s ongoing,” she said. “Again, we just executed the search warrant early, early this morning. It’s ongoing, but America’s safer, D.C.’s safer because he’s in custody.”
Bondi said the arrest resulted from re-examining evidence already in the FBI’s possession rather than a new tip. “Today’s arrest happened because the Trump administration has made this case a priority,” she added. FBI Director Kash Patel said a team of experts “reevaluated the evidence,” and described the sequence from evidence development to obtaining search warrants and making the arrest: “When you develop evidence, you get a search warrant, and when you get a search warrant, you get an address, and when you get an address, you hit the house, and that’s what we did.”
The arrest is a major development in a case that had baffled investigators for nearly five years. Federal authorities say the pipe bombs—constructed from 1×8-inch pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder—were placed outside DNC and RNC headquarters the evening of Jan. 5. The devices did not detonate but were deemed viable and capable of causing death or injury.
The bombs were not discovered until the afternoon of Jan. 6, as police were overwhelmed by the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Then–vice president-elect Kamala Harris was evacuated from the DNC headquarters after the devices were found.
DNC Chair Ken Martin thanked law enforcement after the arrest: “Those responsible for this horrific act must be brought to justice, and political violence should never be accepted in America.”
In the years since Jan. 6, federal law enforcement has charged more than 1,500 people in connection with the Capitol riot, but the pipe bomb case remained unresolved. The FBI previously released grainy security camera images of a hooded figure it called a potential suspect and offered a $500,000 reward for information. In May, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino said the investigation had drawn additional resources and that the FBI was making progress.
Nick Kurtz and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.