Name: DOJ says D.C. pipe bomb suspect confessed to 2021 plot
Uploaded: 2025-12-29T17:21:30.538Z
Duration: 3 min 6 s
Description: The Department of Justice says Brian Cole, who was arrested in Virginia and charged with transplanting and planting two IEDs at the DNC and RNC in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the U.S. Capitol riots, walked agents through his alleged plot.

The Department of Justice says Brian Cole, who was arrested in Virginia and charged with transplanting and planting two IEDs at the DNC and RNC in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the U.S. Capitol riots, walked agents through his alleged plot.

Washington

A Virginia man, Brian Cole Jr., has confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters on the eve of the January 6th Capitol riot, according to a recent Department of Justice court filing. Cole reportedly told the FBI he acted out of concerns over the 2020 election and waived his Miranda rights before admitting involvement.

The DOJ's filings provide limited information about Cole's motives or any direct political connections, and do not link the pipe bombs to the events of January 6th. Defense attorneys question the strength of the evidence, citing Cole's developmental disability, and a significant detention hearing is scheduled in federal court.

DOJ says D.C. pipe bomb suspect confessed to 2021 plot

The Virginia man accused of placing pipe bombs outside the DNC and RNC headquarters the night prior to the January 6th Capitol riot has confessed, according to a new court filing from the Department of Justice. The DOJ says Brian Cole Jr. told the FBI he had concerns over the 2020 election and that someone needed to quote, speak up. CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott McFarlane joins us now. Scott, walk us through more of what this filing says. So much of what the Department of Justice is arguing here, Lindsey, is what they say Brian Cole admitted during a post-arrest interrogation. They say he waved his Miranda rights and started talking to federal agents almost immediately. They say at first he denied being the Capitol Hill pipe bomber, but then acknowledged doing so and said that something just snapped in him, that he had grave concerns about the 2020 election results, that he was on Capitol Hill at that precious moment of January 5th, 2021, as part of a protest against the 2020 election results earlier in the day. But there's little else in this detention memo from the Department of Justice that speaks to motive or whether there was any connection between what Brian Cole had for politics and what he did that evening, allegedly. We expect there to be a pretty animated detention hearing tomorrow. And we say that because, Lindsey, the defense attorneys in this case have argued that tomorrow the Department of Justice should show its work to put up or shut up whatever evidence it has. They think the charging document is thin and all of this seems to be based on the words of the defendant, whose family says he has a developmental disability. Has there been any more word about these pipe bombs, the destruction they could have caused, how he came to learn and understand how to make these pipe bombs? What's noteworthy here to me, Lindsey, is so little has been mentioned in any of the Department of Justice's filings about January 6th, 2021. They make no arguments in their filings about whether those bombs were there to aggravate or cause chaos ahead of the insurrection. They do say that Brian Cole denied having any motivation or any ties to January 6th, but they don't mention the insurrection as part of their case here. Perhaps the prior Department of Justice under President Biden would be more prone to mention January 6th. That was their prosecution. The Trump administration shut down all January 6th prosecutions. But the more fundamental answer to your question is that it's been said at the time and since that these things could have been destructive, could have been deadly, though they allege that Brian Cole said he didn't want them to kill anyone, which is why they say he put them there at night. And really quickly, because of your expertise on this beat, do you foresee any issues with this confession later being used in court, given what his family and defense attorneys say about his developmental disorder? I think considering the notoriety of this case, the historic nature of this case, Lindsey, this could be a blockbuster hearing tomorrow in federal court in Washington and of course will be there. OK, Scott McFarland, thank you.

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