Suspect in D.C. pipe bomb case confessed to investigators and said he was a Trump supporter, sources say
By: Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer and Michael Kunzelman (Anchorage Daily News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Prince William County Police block the street near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
WASHINGTON — The man accused of planting a pair of pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack confessed to the act during an hours-long interview with investigators, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Brian Cole Jr. spoke to law-enforcement officers for more than four hours after his arrest, a federal prosecutor, Charles Jones, said Friday during Cole's initial court appearance.
The prosecutor did not elaborate on what Cole said to investigators, but two people familiar with the matter told the AP he confessed to planting the devices on Jan. 5, 2021. Cole also indicated that he believed conspiracy theories around the 2020 election that President Donald Trump has insisted was stolen and expressed views supportive of Trump, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss by name an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The details add to a still-emerging portrait of the 30-year-old suspect from Woodbridge, Virginia, and it was not immediately clear what other information or perspectives he may have shared while cooperating with law enforcement following his arrest on Thursday.
U.S. Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya ordered Cole to remain in jail. He did not enter a plea and is due back in court Dec. 15 for a detention hearing.
Cole, wearing a tan-colored jail uniform, answered a few routine questions from the magistrate during Friday's brief hearing. Relatives of Cole attended the hearing and called out words of encouragement as he was led out of the courtroom.
"We love you!" one shouted.
"We're here for you, baby," another said.
Defense attorney John Shoreman declined to comment on the charges after the hearing.
"We're in the very, very early stages," he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, third from right, Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, left, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, ATF Special Agent in Charge of Washington Anthony Spotswood, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI deputy director Dan Bongino speak during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
An FBI affidavit says investigators identified Cole as a suspect through analysis of credit card charges related to the purchase of pipe bomb components, information from cellphone towers and a license plate reader.
Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.
Federal authorities have not publicly disclosed any information about a possible motive or whether there is any connection to the attack on the Capitol the following day by Trump supporters.
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 attack.
Trump lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden but promoted conspiracy theories that Democrats stole the election from him. A mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House.
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More unnamed sources!
Why did Jake Tapper say the suspect was a white man?
If the suspect was triggered by the 2020 election (and I admit it was a very unique election), how did he come to buy bomb parts in 2019?
Why was his family suing Trump?
Why did he leave a bomb at GOP headquarters?
Let us know when you have answers.
I'm sure he was just another peaceful tourist and had nothing to do with the peaceful demonstrations regarding the evil commie democrats stealing the election from the poor put-upon president.
Another lunatic fringe MAGA terrorist. Expect Trump to pardon him within a week.
Placing a bomb at each party's offices will make Pam Bondi's head explode trying to minimize the sentence etc.
Bondi is going to have to back off everything she said and blame it all on Biden.
They'll try to flip the script as they always do or claim he's just mentally ill and they'll be righteously indignant at anyone who attempts to claim he was radicalized inside the MAGA party.
To be fair, to do something like this, or assassinate Kirk or shoot abortion doctors in their church, you have to be a bit mentally ill even for a radicalized partisan.
Pirro made a statement to the effect of that the bomber was unhappy with the establishment following the 2020 election results.
There are no longer sane folk in the GOP. They have all been Trumpified into extreme insanity!
Not Obama? /s
2 weeks. it's always "a couple of weeks."
It's always "a couple of weeks" if it's something Trump has no intention of doing anything about. Not the case here.
He was making Bombs of Love.
The real question is; Does Trump use a Presidential AutoPen to sign these pardons, so many pardons... /S
The best pardons ever. No one has ever done better pardons. Great, Big, Beautiful Pardons.
So pardoning ALL of the hundreds of j6 fascists who invaded congress didn't involve an auto pen?[✘]
And when asked about pardoning the convicted drug trafficking Honduran President he said, "I don't know who that is".
Stable genius.
How hard is Bondi and gang going to prosecute this guy?
I think they're going to find some excuse to let him go