The man charged with planting pipe bombs outside Republican and Democratic national party headquarters before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots told the FBI he supported Donald Trump and leaned toward anarchist ideologies, according to two people familiar with his interview.
Brian Cole Jr., 30, who was arrested Thursday at his family home in a Northern Virginia exurb of Washington and criminally charged, confessed to the FBI that he planted the bombs near the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, according to two sources familiar with Cole’s interview who requested anonymity to speak about a sensitive ongoing investigation.
Investigators said that Cole expressed support for anarchist ideologies in the past but they found no evidence that he colluded with militant organizations or with any Trump supporters who organized the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the sources told MS NOW’s investigative reporters Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig.
The FBI has not publicly revealed a motive Cole might have had for placing the bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in the hours before the attack. “It’s not yet clear what the drivers were,” said a law enforcement official, who requested anonymity to speak about the case.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, stressing that the investigation remains ongoing and many questions about Cole have not yet been answered.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday morning that she expected further charges in the case. “They are poring through evidence. You saw hundreds of agents are on this case, because this is a very dangerous person,” Bondi said on Fox News, adding, “I believe there are more charges to come.”
Cole’s arrest on Thursday ended a long search in a case that bred a plethora of conspiracy theories about who planted the pipe bombs before a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, aiming to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. The case went unsolved for almost five years, prompting pushback over the FBI’s inability to resolve one of the last major questions that loomed over Jan. 6. The FBI offered a sizable cash reward at the beginning of the year for information that led to an arrest.
Prior to his appointment by Trump to be deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino, a former U.S. Secret Service agent turned right-wing podcaster, was a leading voice on those conspiracy theories. Bongino alleged earlier this year in an episode of his podcast, ‘The Dan Bongino Show,” that the FBI was engaging in a massive cover-up because the incident was an inside job orchestrated by an anti-Trump actor.
At a joint DOJ and FBI news conference announcing the arrest yesterday, Bongino made no reference to his past conspiratorial claims, brushing them off later when pressed in a prime-time interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“Listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions,” Bongino said. “It’s clear. And one day I’ll be back in that space, but that’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts.” Bongino added that while the FBI is “pretty comfortable we have our guy,” the “investigation has just begun.” Federal agents left Cole’s interview Thursday suspecting the 30-year-old is a loner with antisocial tendencies, according to one person briefed on their thinking. Neighbors who spoke to MS NOW shortly after Cole’s arrest in Woodbridge, Virginia, on Thursday described him as a quiet, introverted man who was often seen walking his Chihuahua to a nearby 7-Eleven store. Cole is slated to make his first court appearance in Washington on Friday afternoon.
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
