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The FBI has arrested a man and charged him with placing pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties ahead of the US Capitol attack on January 6 2021.
US attorney-general Pam Bondi on Thursday said Brian Cole Jr was arrested earlier in the day and charged with the use of an explosive device.
According to the FBI, a total of two pipe bombs were placed near the parties’ headquarters on the evening of January 5 2021 but failed to explode.
Supporters of then-president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol the following day in an attempt to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
This is the first arrest related to the investigation since it began nearly five years ago. Bondi said it remained ongoing and search warrants were being executed “as we speak”. There “could be more charges to come”, she added. She did not specify a motive for the failed attack.
RNC chair Joe Gruters said: “For four years, the Biden administration allowed a terrorist to walk the streets while DoJ leadership was busy targeting parents at school board meetings, Catholics at church and enforcing their [diversity, equity and inclusion] agenda instead of getting a potential mass murderer off the streets.
“We are grateful to attorney-general Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, deputy director Dan Bongino, US attorney Jeanine Pirro and the federal law enforcement professionals who prioritised this case and delivered long-overdue answers to the American people.”
The FBI in recent years has shared videos and photos of the suspect wearing a hooded sweater and a mask — and offered a reward of up to $500,000 for information that would lead to the person’s arrest and conviction.
A 30-year-old resident of Woodbridge, Virginia, Cole faces charges of interstate transportation of an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction via explosive materials.
In 2019 and 2020 Cole bought items “consistent with” the components used to create the pipe bombs found in Washington — and later bought additional products used to make bombs, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.
The suspect was working in the office of a bail bondsman in northern Virginia and was living with his family, the agent added.
DNC chair Ken Martin said: “We are grateful to the law enforcement officers who have dedicated years to investigating the pipe bombs planted at the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters on the eve of the January sixth insurrection.”
“Those responsible for this horrific act must be brought to justice, and political violence should never be accepted in America.”
Cole could not immediately be reached for comment.