The Capitol Hill Pipe Bomb Case

On December 4, authorities arrested Brian J. Cole, Jr. and charged him with planting the two pipe bombs discovered near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on January 6, 2021. Cole has been held in custody since that time, and a hearing is scheduled for tomorrow to consider the government's request that Cole continue to be detained pending trial. The government has sought to postpone the hearing, something that Cole's lawyers have opposed, so whether tomorrow's hearing will be held as scheduled remains to be seen. However, yesterday the government released a memorandum supporting its motion for pretrail detainment. The document has quite a bit of information about Cole's actions and motivation for planting the explosive devices.

First, whoever had "Fox News's Judge Jeanine will prosecute the pipe bomber" on their 2025 prediction list, step up and collect your prize. Also, if you happen to have any stock tips, I'd be much appreciative. We really are living in a surreal timeline. Second, while the memorandum says that Cole confessed, he is still entitled to a presumption of innocence. The memo clearly suggests that Cole was under some duress during his interview and, while I do not believe that it is the case here, false confessions are not unheard of. Finally, I am relying exclusively on the prosecution's account of the facts. The purpose of this memo is to make the government's case. It is not only possible, but likely, that Cole's defense team will object to the government's narrative. So keep the one-sided nature of this account in mind.

Following his arrest, Cole was transported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington Field Office, which is located in Woodbridge, Virginia, where he was interviewed by investigators. According to the memorandum, Cole executed a written waiver of his Miranda rights. The exact length of the interview was not disclosed, though it is said to have lasted "multiple hours." Approximately two hours into the interview, Cole — who had been maintaining his innocence — stated that "everything is just blank" and "a little too much to process." A few minutes later, Cole admitted that he was the individual shown in surveillance video that had recorded the suspect. The interview would then continue for approximately one and one-half hours during which Cole "walked the interviewing agents in detail through his construction, transportation, and planting of the pipe bombs."

In addition to his confession, authorities have considerable evidence of Cole's involvement in planting the bombs. The government has obtained cell phone records showing that Cole's phone interacted with cell towers in the vicinity of RNC and DNC headquarters near the time that the bombs were planted. License plate readers also captured his car in the area. Investigators used credit card records to show that Cole had purchased the items necessary to build the explosive devices. An interesting aspect of this is that the purchases go back to January 2018, three years before the bombs were planted. In addition, Cole continued to purchase similar components after January 5, 2021. The memorandum also states that Cole wiped his cell phone 943 times between December 2020 and December 2025, including once approximately three hours before his arrest.

Early in the interview, Cole claimed that on the evening of January 5, he had driven to Washington, D.C. to attend a protest about the outcome of the 2020 election. He told authorities that he "was going to a protest in support of [then President] Trump." Cole later admitted that he did not go to attend a protest but rather to plant the explosive devices. However, Cole's suggestion that he was motivated by anger at the outcome of the election, especially suggestions that the election had been stolen, was repeated after his confession.

It appears that Cole was upset by allegations that the election had been stolen. Cole says that after the 2020 election, he began following the issue on YouTube and Reddit. He became angry with both parties and wanted to do something "to the parties" because "they were in charge." He is quoted as saying, "if people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then . . . at the very least someone should address it." As the document later summarizes, Cole "was unhappy with the response of political leaders on both sides of the political aisle to questions raised about the results of the 2020 election". Cole says that "something just snapped."

One thing that I have noticed over the years when studying acts of political violence is how often perpetrators begin with a desire for violence and, only later, find a cause to use as a justification. This can manifest itself, for example, in individuals with a history of violent acts "converting" to Islam and then committing violence in the name of their new religion, despite having been a member of that religion for all of five minutes and literally not knowing even fundamental aspects of it. In this case, Cole appears to have started preparations to build bombs three years before planting them and well before the 2020 election. During that time, he relied on a video game and YouTube videos to learn to construct the devices. Instead of planting bombs to protest the election, he may have been protesting the election as an excuse for planting bombs.

Cole is also fairly adamant that his goal was not to hurt anyone. He says that he placed the bombs at night because he did not want to kill people and that he was "pretty relieved" when the devices did not detonate. He said that he was inspired to use pipe bombs due to his interest in history, specifically the "Troubles" in Ireland. Pipe bombs were frequently used by both sides in the Northern Ireland conflict and, while many people were killed or wounded as a result, it was common to provide warnings in advance to prevent casualties. He also denied that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled for January 6.

Authorities appear to have a wealth of evidence, including a confession, suggesting that Cole was the perpetrator of the pipe bomb incident that was discovered on January 6. However, there is an argument to be made that his confession came under duress and some of the bomb-making evidence could be explained away. Moreover, given the appearance of a fairly-solid case, the Government is strangely reluctant to proceed with the scheduled detention hearing, attempting to have it delayed. There will likely be much more to come on this topic.