Man Charged for Planting DC Pipe Bombs 12/05 06:14

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI on Thursday arrested a man accused of placing two 
pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national 
parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack, an abrupt 
breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and 
spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021.

   The arrest marks the first time investigators have publicly identified a 
suspect in an act that has been an enduring mystery for nearly five years in 
the shadow of the violent Capitol insurrection.

   The suspect was identified as Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, 
Virginia, but key questions remain unanswered after his arrest on explosives 
charges, including a possible motive and what connection if any the act had to 
the assault on the Capitol the following day by supporters of President Donald 
Trump.

   Law enforcement officials reviewed credit card purchases of pipe bomb 
components, cellphone tower data and a license plate reader to zero in on Cole, 
according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. The FBI and Justice Department 
declined to elaborate on what led them to the suspect, but characterized his 
arrest as the result of a reinvigorated investigation during the Trump 
administration and credited a fresh analysis of already-collected evidence and 
data.

   "Let me be clear: There was no new tip. There was no new witness. Just good, 
diligent police work and prosecutorial work," Attorney General Pam Bondi said 
at a news conference.

   Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately 
returned Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law 
enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole's home is while FBI agents 
helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and 
examining the trunk of a car nearby.

   FBI says the bombs could have killed people

   The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices 
of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before 
the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been 
lethal.

   In the years since, investigators have sought the public's help in 
identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they 
struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person's 
gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the 
Capitol a day later, when supporters of Trump stormed the building in a bid to 
halt the certification of the Republican's 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe 
Biden.

   Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January publicized additional 
information about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was 
about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the 
suspect placing one of the bombs.

   The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of 
tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of 
interviews.

   Lack of evidence spawns conspiracy theories

   In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media 
outlets promoted conspiracy theories about the pipe bombs. House Republicans 
also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to 
detect the bombs for 17 hours.

   One particularly vocal commentator was Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy 
director who, before being tapped for the job this year, was a popular 
conservative podcaster. He floated the possibility last year that the act was 
an "inside job" and that the truth was being shielded behind a "massive 
cover-up."

   But since joining the bureau, he and Director Kash Patel have described the 
investigation as a top priority for the FBI. In a long Nov. 13 post on X, 
Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and 
"dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public reward 
for information "to utilize crowd-sourcing leads."

   "You're not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive 
devices and walk off into the sunset," Bongino said at Thursday's news 
conference.

   The reinvigorated investigative focus on the pipe bombs came even as the 
Trump administration has been engaged in a much broader effort to rewrite the 
history of the events of Jan. 6, including through Trump's pardons on his first 
day back in office of the rioters who stormed the Capitol -- even those who 
violently attacked police with poles and other makeshift weapons.

   Investigators hunt for clues

   Though Patel said the FBI in the prior administration had "refused and 
failed" to sift through each piece of data in the case, agents for years had 
conducted a sprawling investigation.

   Surveillance video taken the night before the riot showed the suspect 
spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a 
park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.

   Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They 
gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood 
at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, 
for location information. Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions 
from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased 
components resembling those used in the two explosive devices

   The FBI affidavit filed in connection with the arrest lays out a series of 
evidentiary clues that investigators pieced together to arrive at Cole, who 
lives with his mother and other family members in a five-bedroom house on a 
quiet cul-de-sac in Woodbridge, Virginia, about 30 miles south of the Capitol 
building.

   Using information from his bank account and credit cards, authorities 
discovered he purchased materials in 2019 and 2020 consistent with those used 
to make the pipe bombs, according to court papers. That included galvanized 
pipes and white kitchen-style timers, according to the affidavit. The purchases 
continued even after the devices were placed.

   Authorities also obtained records showing Cole's cellphone was near the RNC 
and DNC on the day the pipe bombs were placed, the affidavit says.

   In addition, the FBI says, Cole's Nissan Sentra was captured driving past a 
license plate reader on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, less than a half-mile from 
where the person who placed the devices was first spotted on foot around 7:34 
p.m. that night.