Man accused of planting pipe bombs before Jan. 6 Capitol attack is charged with explosives offenses

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI on Thursday arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack, an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have publicly identified a suspect in an act that has been an enduring mystery for nearly five years in the shadow of the violent Capitol insurrection.

The suspect was identified as Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, but key questions remain unanswered after his arrest on explosives charges, including a possible motive and what connection if any the act had to the assault on the Capitol the following day by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Law enforcement officials reviewed credit card purchases of pipe bomb components, cellphone tower data and a license plate reader to zero in on Cole, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. The FBI and Justice Department declined to elaborate on what led them to the suspect, but characterized his arrest as the result of a reinvigorated investigation during the Trump administration and credited a fresh analysis of already-collected evidence and data.

“Let me be clear: There was no new tip. There was no new witness. Just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a news conference.

Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.

The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.

In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later, when supporters of Trump stormed the building in a bid to halt the certification of the Republican's 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January publicized additional information about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.

The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.

In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted conspiracy theories about the pipe bombs. House Republicans also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours.

One particularly vocal commentator was Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director who, before being tapped for the job this year, was a popular conservative podcaster. He floated the possibility last year that the act was an “inside job” and that the truth was being shielded behind a “massive cover-up.”

But since joining the bureau, he and Director Kash Patel have described the investigation as a top priority for the FBI. In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and “dramatically increased investigative resources” along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.”

"You’re not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices and walk off into the sunset,” Bongino said at Thursday's news conference.

The reinvigorated investigative focus on the pipe bombs came even as the Trump administration has been engaged in a much broader effort to rewrite the history of the events of Jan. 6, including through Trump’s pardons on his first day back in office of the rioters who stormed the Capitol — even those who violently attacked police with poles and other makeshift weapons.

Though Patel said the FBI in the prior administration had “refused and failed” to sift through each piece of data in the case, agents for years had conducted a sprawling investigation.

Surveillance video taken the night before the riot showed the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.

Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information. Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices

The FBI affidavit filed in connection with the arrest lays out a series of evidentiary clues that investigators pieced together to arrive at Cole, who lives with his mother and other family members in a five-bedroom house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Woodbridge, Virginia, about 30 miles south of the Capitol building.

Using information from his bank account and credit cards, authorities discovered he purchased materials in 2019 and 2020 consistent with those used to make the pipe bombs, according to court papers. That included galvanized pipes and white kitchen-style timers, according to the affidavit. The purchases continued even after the devices were placed.

Authorities also obtained records showing Cole’s cellphone was near the RNC and DNC on the day the pipe bombs were placed, the affidavit says.

In addition, the FBI says, Cole's Nissan Sentra was captured driving past a license plate reader on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, less than a half-mile from where the person who placed the devices was first spotted on foot around 7:34 p.m. that night.

Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo, Michael Kunzelman, Michael Biesecker, Brian Witte, Jim Mustian and R.J. Rico contributed to this report.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks about the recent arrest in the pipe bombs on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Prince William County Police block the street near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Prince William County Police block the street near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in a nearly five-year old investigation into who placed pipe bombs in Washington before the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

An FBI agent stands near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in a nearly five-year old investigation into who placed pipe bombs in Washington before the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

FILE - Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, Jan. 5, 2022, in advance of the one year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool, File)

FILE - Members of law enforcement are pictured outside Democratic National Committee headquarters, Sept. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Images from an FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (FBI via AP, File)

FILE - This image shows part of a "Seeking Information" notice released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding pipe bombs planted outside offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, on the eve of the attack on the Capitol. (FBI via AP, File)

A Navy admiral told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but grave questions and concerns remain as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley “was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.

While Cotton, a Republican, defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned President Donald Trump administration’s rationale and said the boat strike was deeply concerning.

“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water.”

Lawmakers want a full accounting after The Washington Post reported that Bradley on Sept. 2 ordered an attack on the survivors to comply with a directive from Hegseth to “kill everybody.” Legal experts say the attack amounts to a crime if the survivors were targeted.

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The Supreme Court is allowing the challenged Texas congressional redistricting plan to be used in next year’s election, despite a lower-court ruling that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race.

The map is favorable to Republicans and was pushed by Trump.

The justices acted Thursday on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March.

The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in the case.

The effort to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in 2026 touched off a nationwide redistricting battle.

▶ Read more about the Supreme Court ruling

Kenya’s William Ruto was among leaders to descend on Washington for the signing of the Trump-mediated peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda.

Ruto, who was invited to deliver remarks at the ceremony, thanked Trump for his efforts and spoke hopefully that sustained peace between Congo and Rwanda could have a positive impact on the continent.

But as he closed his speech, Ruto turned the spotlight on the Sudan civil war.

“I want to ask you respectfully, Mr. President, that in your quest for global peace to support efforts to resolve the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan,” Ruto said.

The brutal war in Sudan, which started in April 2023, has pitted the Sudanese Armed Forces against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting there has killed over 40,000 people and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people displaced.

Investigative reports into a series of high-profile Navy mishaps during a U.S.-led campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels reveal the operation’s toll on ships and personnel.

The four reports released Thursday cover a “friendly fire” instance where a ship shot at two fighter jets, downing one, as well as the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman’s collision with a merchant vessel and the loss of two more jets to mishaps.

The reports paint a picture of an aircraft carrier not only beset by regular missile attacks that stressed the crew but other operational demands that put pressure on top leaders.

In all, the four preventable mishaps cost the Navy well over $100 million in damage and injured multiple sailors.

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, called for the entirety of Congress to access video of the attack on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea that killed two survivors of an initial attack.

Warner said Congress was handling a weighty incident, which legal experts say may have violated the laws of military warfare. He called for the Trump administration to provide more information to Congress and the public about the strikes and its campaign in international waters near Venezuela.

“We all know that our country’s record of interventions in the Caribbean and Central America and South America over the last 100-plus years hasn’t been a perfect record,” Warner said.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it will limit how long work permits for certain groups like refugees or people with asylum are valid.

The agency said it’s taking this step so people have to go through more frequent vetting when they renew their permits.

It’s the latest immigration restriction by the administration since the shooting last week of two National Guard members by a suspect who is an Afghan national.

USCIS said instead of waiting five years to renew their work permits, those affected will have to renew them every 18 months.

Other people affected by the change are immigrants with pending asylum applications, or those who don’t have asylum but qualify for various protections against deportation.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said the new firm was needed because the project is moving into a new stage.

The firm is Washington, D.C.-based Shalom Baranes, and it has worked on several federal buildings, including the Pentagon and Treasury building, according to its website.

Ingle said the firm’s work has shaped the “architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades” and its experience will be an asset to the ballroom construction.

The initial firm, McCrery Architects, remains on the project as a consultant.

The Washington Post was first to report on the development.

For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.

But a vaccine advisory committee formed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation’s top health official, is considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. The committee plans to vote Friday.

American Oversight said Thursday that it filed its lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., because the Defense Department and Justice Department failed to provide records sought under the Freedom of Information Act.

“According to experts, if survivors of the initial strike were killed as reported, such conduct could amount to a war crime,” a copy of the lawsuit released by the nonprofit watchdog stated.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the authority of an acting U.S. attorney in Albany who is investigating her.

Her lawyers argue John Sarcone’s appointment was improper, making subpoenas he issued invalid.

A court hearing Thursday centered on Sarcone’s role in investigating cases against Trump and the National Rifle Association.

James’ attorney Hailyn Chen argued that the subpoenas are invalid due to the improper way Sarcone was placed in the position by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. In response to a question from U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, Chen said Sarcone should be disqualified from the investigation and the office.

Justice Department lawyers say Sarcone was appointed properly and the subpoenas should stand. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss argued that disqualifying Sarcone would be “drastic and extreme.”

Schofield did not say when she would rule.

Trump said the United States was signing bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals. The deals will benefit all three nations’ economies.

“And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest U.S. companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. He added, “Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”

The region, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cellphones and more. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she planned to discuss trade and the remaining tariffs on imports from Mexico with Trump on the sidelines of the draw for the 2026 World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Mexican leader said she would also meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The three countries are co-hosting next summer’s soccer tournament.

“Everything appears to indicate that we are going to have a small meeting” with Trump, Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing Thursday. She had announced Wednesday that she would be attending the event.

It will Sheinbaum’s first face-to-face meeting with Trump. She said she wants to advance negotiations over tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum. among other things.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services panel is calling on the Pentagon to release video of a U.S. attack that killed two survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters earlier this year.

Reed and the other leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services and intelligence panels viewed the video at classified briefings by top national security officials in the Capitol on Thursday. He said afterward that the Pentagon should release the video and also the legal opinion authorizing the strike in waters near Venezuela.

“The video will I think answer all of the questions that are floating around and the legal opinion will provide the justification for the general operation,” Reed said.

Republicans and Democrats have vowed to investigate the incident. Reed said the video was disturbing but declined to provide any additional details.

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said even without a direct verbal command from Hegseth or anyone else to “kill them all” the order for the mission was to kill those on board.

“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he did not say ‘kill them all.’ However, there were 11 people on that boat, and the order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” Smith told the AP.

He described the video showing “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

The Trump administration has instructed U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to prioritize visa applications from foreigners wishing to visit the United States to either invest in America or attend the 2026 World Cup, 2028 Olympics and other major sporting events.

The administration also has added new criteria for highly skilled foreign workers seeking a particular visa.

The new rules would deny entry to applicants deemed to have directed or participated in the censorship of American citizens on social media through content moderation initiatives that have sprung up throughout Europe and elsewhere to combat extremist speech.

The steps were outlined in cables sent this week to all U.S. diplomatic missions and obtained by The Associated Press.

“No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the signing ceremony. “But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”

Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI, said authorities identified Brian Cole Jr. as a suspect in the Washington, D.C., pipe bomb case based on the FBI’s investigation.

“This was not a new public tip that this came from,” Bongino said. “This was our own internal work at the FBI.”

Brian Cole has been charged with use of an explosive device.

“We were going to track this person to the end of the earth. There was no way he was getting away,” Bongino said.

No attorney information was yet available and attempts to reach family and a cellphone listed as Cole’s were not answered.

The long-running bromance between the U.S. president and Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, is still going strong. Trump nodded to Infantino at the DRC-Rwanda peace deal signing, calling him a “great leader in sports and a great gentleman.”

Infantino is in town ahead of the World Cup draw on Friday. The event is being held at the Kennedy Center, or the “Trump Kennedy Center,” as the president called it.

“Oh, excuse me — at the Kennedy Center,” Trump jokingly corrected himself. “Pardon me, such a terrible mistake.”

Trump also said ticket sales for next year’s World Cup, which the U.S. is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, have broken records.

“I can report to you that we have sold more tickets than any country, anywhere in the world at this stage of the game,” he said.

FIFA said late last month that nearly two million tickets had been purchased during two phases of ticket sales. The third phase begins Dec. 11.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau and Department of Justice brought in a new team of investigators and experts to sift through existing evidence and chase down leads. He said that was, “Something the prior administration failed to do.”

Patel went on to call the arrest “flawless,” saying no officers were hurt taking down what he characterized as a dangerous suspect.

“We solved it. He will have his day in court,” Patel said.

Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are signing a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening access to the region’s critical minerals.

Tshisekedi offered a hopeful message about the precarious peace.

“I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult,” Tshisekedi said. “But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi says a man named Brian Coles Jr. was arrested Thursday in with the Jan. 5, 2021, pipe bombs left outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Cole is charged with use of an explosive device, Bondi said during a news conference. She said the investigation is still underway, and more charges could be filed in the future.

“As we speak, search warrants are being executed,” Bondi said.

Trump celebrated a peace agreement between the leaders of the Congo and Rwanda on Thursday by praising the building hosting the event.

“It’s a spectacular building and we all appreciate it,” Trump said. His administration is involved in a court battle over the think tank.

The State Department on Wednesday said that it renamed it as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.

“Thank you for putting a certain name on that,” Trump said to Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the event. “That blew up last night.”

The White House is expected to submit plans for its new ballroom to a planning commission later this month, the Trump-appointed head of the panel said Thursday.

“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” Will Scharf, the chair of the National Capital Planning Commission, said.

In Fairfax, Virginia, federal agents gathered outside an office marked “Brian Cole Bail Bonds,” its entrance wrapped in yellow crime-scene tape that flicked in the afternoon wind.

A man in an FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force jacket stood near the entrance, conferring with local officers who were guarding the building.

The business shares the suspect’s name. In public records, it appears to be associated with members of his family, though authorities have not detailed the connection.

The Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate Armed Services Committee offered diverging takeaways from the Pentagon inspector general report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to share sensitive information.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chair, said in a statement that Hegseth “acted within his authority to communicate the information in question to other cabinet level officials.”

But Wicker said that senior leaders also need more tools to share classified information “in real time and a variety of environments.”

Sen. Jack Reed of Oregon, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said Hegseth violated military regulations and showed “reckless disregard for the safety American servicemembers.”

Reed said in his statement that anyone else would have faced “severe consequences, including potential prosecution.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to have a brief meeting with Trump while at the Kennedy Center in Washington for the World Cup draw Friday.

Carney’s spokesperson Audrey Champoux says Carney will also have a brief meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are hosting the 64-nation World Cup next year.

A Navy admiral has told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

That disclosure Thursday comes as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.

Sen. Tom Cotton told reporters about what he heard from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley in classified briefing and Cotton is defending the attack. But a Democratic lawmaker who was also briefed says he’s deeply concerned by video of the second strike

The Pentagon inspector general’s report released Thursday criticized the use of unapproved messaging apps and devices across the department.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material he shared with others in a Signal chat, the watchdog found. But it also says the release of details about the strike on Houthi militants in Yemen violated internal Pentagon rules about handling sensitive information that could put service members or their missions in danger.

The report noted that the information that Hegseth sent — the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory about two hours to four hours before those strikes — “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.”

Hegseth wrote on social media: “No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission.”

The South Carolina Republican told reporters during a virtual news conference on Thursday that she’s going to finish her term but is “100%” frustrated with the slow pace of the House.

Mace was asked about reporting by The New York Times that she is looking to meet with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to discuss following the lead of the Georgia Republican, who has announced she’s leaving Congress in January.

Mace said she’s expressed her frustrations to House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom she supports and said she expects to outlast recent criticism of his management of the House.

Mace, first elected in 2020, is seeking the GOP nomination for South Carolina governor in next year’s elections and is not expected to run for another House term.

Protesters held signs that read “No Collaboration with ICE/DHS” and begged city leaders to create “ICE-Free zones” during a City Council meeting Thursday. It was the second day of a federal immigration enforcement operation in the city.

After public comment was suspended, and protesters refused to yield their time at the podium, City Council members paused the meeting and left the room.

As protesters chanted “Shame,” city police officers ordered them to leave the building. While some protesters complied, multiple others were pushed or physically carried out by officers.

Trump administration lawyers on Thursday accused plaintiffs of “throwing in the towel” with “procedural gamesmanship” after they moved to dismiss their lawsuit over the aggressive tactics of federal immigration officers in the Chicago area.

The coalition of protesters and journalists behind the suit called the dismissal a victory, saying the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” had largely wound down. But the case was on its way to a skeptical appeals court that had already frozen an order limiting agents’ use of force.

“The moment they have to explain themselves to an appellate court, they run for the hills,” said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley, accompanied by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right, walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on fuel economy standards in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)