Hours before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, someone placed pipe bombs outside Republican and Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. This led to a five-year manhunt that finally produced a breakthrough.
Federal agents arrested a suspect Thursday morning, taking Brian Cole Jr. into custody. The Virginia man, who lives roughly 23 miles south of Capitol Hill, has been charged with transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, according to charging documents filed in court.
There’s no shortage of questions about the suspect and his actions, but some new details are coming to the fore. NBC News reported that Cole is cooperating with the FBI and has already shared important insights. From the report:
The man charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
This dovetails with a related account from MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, who reported that the suspect confessed to agents Thursday that he planted the bombs near the Capitol — and indicated he supported Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with his interview.
These developments are obviously new, and as the investigation continues, officials will likely get a clearer sense of the suspect’s motivations.
But based on these initial reports, the suggestion that Cole might’ve somehow been aligned with Joe Biden or the left more broadly appears untrue. It also raises questions anew about the relevance of Trump’s pardons for those who also went to Capitol Hill in January 2021 after embracing his false election conspiracy theories. Cole is expected to appear in court on Friday afternoon. He has not yet entered a plea. Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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