A Virginia man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of both major political parties on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol protest has confessed to the crime, the New York Post reported Friday.
Brian Cole Jr., 30, allegedly admitted in a four-hour interview Thursday that he left explosive devices outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee offices in Washington on the night of Jan. 5, 2021, the Post reported.
Cole made his initial appearance Friday in federal court in Washington, where he did not enter a plea and was ordered held until a detention hearing scheduled for Dec. 15.
He is charged with transporting explosives across state lines with intent to kill, injure, or cause damage, and with attempted malicious destruction of property using explosive materials.
Investigators say Cole placed viable pipe bombs outside both party headquarters, where they sat undetected for about 17 hours.
The devices were discovered shortly before supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump breached the Capitol to protest what they called a rigged election, delaying certification of the 2020 election for several hours.
According to the Post, Cole told investigators he had embraced claims that Trump — not Democrat Joe Biden — won the 2020 presidential election.
Despite that admission, authorities say the motive for the alleged plot remains murky, with Cole offering conflicting statements in the interview.
Investigators also uncovered social media posts suggesting that Cole harbored anarchist views. But they found no evidence he coordinated with any militant groups or with Trump supporters involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, MS Now reported Friday.
A national Republican operative told the Post there was no indication that Cole was a Trump voter.
Records reviewed by the outlet reportedly show Cole was not registered with either party in Virginia and did not participate in primary contests, though he did vote in general elections in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024.
Cole's arrest came after what officials described as an exhaustive reexamination of the case led by FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
FBI Director Kash Patel told Newsmax on Thursday that agents did not rely on any new outside tips to identify and arrest Cole.
"In eight months, we came in and reviewed all of the evidence that had sat alone and on the sidelines for the prior four years of the Biden administration," Patel told Newsmax.
"Look at 3 million lines of information. Look at the cell tower data dumps, triangulate, bring in the FBI's evidence response teams and subject matter experts," Patel said.
"This isn't some computer system where you dump in information and ask what it spits out. This is hundreds of people, thousands of man-hours, going line by line," he added.
Patel demurred Thursday when asked if Cole was cooperating, telling Newsmax he didn't want to get ahead of the investigation.
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