FBI arrests suspect in DC pipe bomb case after 5-year investigation

A suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs blocks from the U.S. Capitol on January 5, 2021, is now in federal custody after a nearly five-year investigation, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The FBI arrested the suspect, thirty-year-old Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Thursday morning, DOJ leaders said at a press conference. Cole is facing charges of using an explosive device, but more charges are possible, they said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the investigation is "very active and very ongoing."

Bondi also criticized the Biden FBI for failing to solve the case, saying the Trump administration made it a high priority and that federal authorities had a breakthrough using existing tips rather than new information.

"The total lack of movement on this case in our nation's capital undermined the public trust of our enforcement agencies," Bondi said. "This cold case languished for four years until Director [Kash] Patel and Deputy Director [Dan] Bongino came to the FBI."

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Authorities discovered the two pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committees' headquarters around the same time that thousands of protesters a few blocks away began to descend on the Capitol over the 2020 election results.

Video footage released by the FBI showed an unidentified person placing the pipe bombs near the two headquarters more than 16 hours before law enforcement found them. The suspect was seen wearing a gray hoodie, Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers, a mask, glasses and gloves, but the person's identity had long been unknown.

The initial investigation had slowed in under two months, by the end of February 2021, a possible result of credible leads drying up at the time, according to a congressional report.

The lingering mystery led a faction of President Donald Trump's base to raise concerns about the timing of the pipe bomb incident and security failures surrounding it. Some elevated theories that the Biden administration was not forthright to the public about the facts of the case.

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Bongino had suggested the planting of the bombs was an "inside job" prior to joining the bureau. In May, he told Fox News authorities were "closing in" on suspects.

Bongino celebrated what he viewed as a long-awaited resolution to the case during the press conference Thursday.

"You're not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices and walk off in the sunset. Not going to happen," Bongino said.

In unsealed court papers, an FBI affidavit gave no details about the suspect's motives but did shed light on how authorities identified Cole. They obtained his banking records, which showed Cole "purchased multiple items consistent with the components that were used to manufacture the pipe bombs placed at the RNC and DNC," the affidavit said. It also said authorities matched his cell phone records to cell towers in the Capitol Hill vicinity on the night of Jan. 5.

At the start of the investigation, a top official with the FBI Washington Field Office had told the public the bombs were live explosive devices when they were uncovered.

"These pipe bombs were viable devices that could have been detonated, resulting in serious injury or death," Washington Field Office head Steven D’Antuono, who has since retired, said in 2021.

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D'Antuono later told the House Judiciary Committee in an interview that the devices also came with one-hour timers that had lapsed, so he did not believe the timers could have set them off.

The first bomb was discovered by a woman near the RNC, who said she was in an alleyway doing laundry when she saw it and told a nearby officer about it, according to investigative reports. That set off a furious hunt during which the second bomb was discovered, the reports said.

Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.