Authorities have arrested a Virginia man on suspicion of detonating two homemade bombs planted near the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot nearly five years ago.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI officials said Brian Cole Jr., 30, was arrested without incident early Thursday morning. He is charged with using an explosive device and may face other charges as the investigation continues.
The arrest ends a years-long hunt for the attacker. who planted the bombs, prompting a thorough investigation and a $500,000 (£375,000) reward.
The homemade bombs were safely defused and did not explode.
The FBI has received no new information or information that would help solve the case, officials said.
Investigators analyzed existing evidence collected over the years, including nearly three million lines of data, to identify Cole from the suburb of Woodbridge, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Washington, D.C.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the Trump administration has made solving the case a priority.
“It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” she said.
Court documents filed in the case show that investigators determined that Mr. Cole allegedly purchased several bomb-making components in 2019 and 2020.
He bought metal “plugs,” wires and steel wool from Home Depot and Lowes, batteries from another store and timers from a Walmart in northern Virginia, the FBI affidavit said.
Investigators found cell phone data that showed Mr. Cole was near the pipe bomb sites when they were planted between 7:39 p.m. and 8:24 p.m. local time on January 5, 2021.
His vehicle, a 2017 Nissan Sentra with a Virginia license plate, was also spotted by a license plate reader less than half a mile (0.8 km) from where the person installing the devices was first spotted.
Bondi said at a news conference Thursday that authorities were unable to provide a possible motive.
They added that because the FBI had just executed a search warrant at the suspect's home during the morning arrest, many details could not yet be made public.
FBI officials praised investigators' persistence and said they never gave up searching for a suspect.
“We continued to process enormous amounts of data,” said Darren Cox, deputy assistant director in charge of the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division.
Earlier this year, the FBI released surveillance footage of a man wearing a backpack and a light gray hooded sweatshirt placing something near a bench outside the Democratic National Committee building in Washington. The man was later shown walking to plant a second bomb.
FBI Director Kash Patel said at a press conference that “when you attack American citizens, when you attack our nation's capital, you are attacking the very essence of our way of life.”
“We will create the safest country the nation has ever seen,” he added.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the case showed that people can't “walk into our capital,” install devices and “walk off into the sunset,” adding that U.S. law enforcement will “track you to the ends of the earth.”
Both devices were installed the night before the Capitol riot and were only discovered when rioters began storming the Congressional complex.
At the time, US senators were meeting there to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won, defeating Donald Trump.
Trump, who was president at the time, addressed a large crowd of supporters at a rally near the White House, where he urged them to “peacefully march” to the U.S. Capitol but also made unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
The crowd numbered between 2,000 and 2,500 people and included several members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Many were with weapons.
Hundreds of people then burst into the building through windows and doors, overwhelming the police. It took law enforcement officers almost four hours to restore order.
As the riot began, a passerby discovered two homemade bombs, police said at the time. Items allegedly left behind included pipes, wires, kitchen timers and homemade black powder, according to the FBI.
According to CBS, the bombs had one detonation method: a 60-minute kitchen timer. But they ultimately failed to explode for unknown reasons.
Since then, police have been searching for the suspect.
Many of those convicted or charged in connection with the riot have since been pardoned by Trump earlier this year, shortly after he took office for his second term in January.
More than 1,500 people were pardoned or commuted. Trump also ordered the US Department of Justice to drop all pending cases against other suspects.
Trump then called the accused and convicted “hostages” and said their lives were “ruined.”
