On Thursday, federal authorities announced the arrest of a northern Virginia man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 — a case that had gone cold under the Biden Administration.
Attorney General Pam Bondi named the suspect as Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old from Woodbridge, Virginia. She said he has been charged with use of an explosive device and noted that more charges could follow as the investigation continues.
Cole is the first person arrested in the years-long search.
Bondi said Cole was arrested early Thursday morning, with investigators still executing search warrants into the afternoon. She emphasized that the break in the case did not come from any new witness or sudden revelation but from a painstaking review of evidence long in the FBI’s possession.
“Today’s arrest happened because the Trump administration has made this case a priority,” she said. “The total lack of movement on this case in our nation’s capital undermined the public trust of our enforcement agencies.”
FBI Director Kash Patel credited a team of specialists who revisited the evidence, describing them as “the best at what they do in their specific fields.”
“When you develop evidence, you get a search warrant, and when you get a search warrant, you get an address, and when you get an address, you hit the house, and that’s what we did,” Patel said.
The arrest marks the most significant movement yet in a case that had frustrated investigators for nearly five years. Federal officials have said the pipe bombs were planted on the evening of Jan. 5. They were built from 1×8-inch pipes, kitchen timers, and homemade black powder — devices the FBI called viable and capable of killing or injuring those nearby.
They went unnoticed until the afternoon of Jan. 6, at a moment when police near the Capitol were overwhelmed by rioting. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, then the vice president-elect, was evacuated from the DNC headquarters shortly after the devices were found.
In a statement after the arrest, DNC Chair Ken Martin offered a sober reflection on the years of effort.
“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 6th insurrection. Those responsible for this horrific act must be brought to justice, and political violence should never be accepted in America.”
Clips from the press conference below:
AG Pam Bondi SLAMS Biden after the arrest of the alleged DC Pipe Bomber:
"Today's arrest happened because the Trump administration has made this case a priority. The total lack of movement on this case in our nation's capital undermined the public trust of our enforcement… pic.twitter.com/pli8BsWSis
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 4, 2025
🚨 BREAKING – FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL on J6 pipe bomber: "This execution was FLAWLESS!" 🔥
The Biden FBI FAILED. The Trump FBI DID IT.
"We did not discover any new information…we reexamined every piece of evidence, sifted through all the data, something that the prior… pic.twitter.com/JxV9gmCbOc
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 4, 2025
