WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with placing two pipe bombs near the national headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of a mob's Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled on Thursday that Brian J. Cole Jr. must remain in jail while awaiting trial. Ali upheld a decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh, who ruled on Jan. 2 that no conditions of release can reasonably protect the public from the danger that Cole allegedly poses.
Cole, 30, pleaded not guilty to making and planting two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the night of Jan. 5, 2021.
Cole, who lived with his parents in Woodbridge, Virginia, has been diagnosed with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His attorneys say he has no criminal record.
Cole has remained jailed since his Dec. 4 arrest. Authorities said they used phone records and other evidence to identify him as a suspect in a crime that confounded the FBI for over four years.
Prosecutors said Cole confessed to trying to carry out “an extraordinary act of political violence.” Cole told investigators that he was unhappy with how leaders of both political parties responded to “questions” about the 2020 presidential election — and said “something just snapped,” according to prosecutors.
“While the defendant may have reached a psychological breaking point, his crimes were anything but impulsive,” they wrote. "Indeed, the defendant’s pipe bombs — and the fear and terror they instilled in the general public — were the product of weeks of premeditation and planning."
Defense attorneys asked for Cole to be freed from jail and placed on home detention with electronic monitoring. They say a defense expert concluded that the devices found near the RNC and DNC headquarters were not viable explosive devices.
“In fact, there was no possibility of death, injury or destruction as the devices were harmless,” they wrote.
If convicted of both charges against him, Cole faces up to 10 years of imprisonment on one charge and up to 20 years of imprisonment on a second charge that also carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.
The Capitol is seen from the Russell Senate Office Building as lawmakers argue on whether to move forward with the spending legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan spending deal and avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday. Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country.
Democrats struck a rare deal with President Donald Trump Thursday to separate funding for the Homeland Security Department from a broad government spending bill and fund it for two weeks while Congress debates curbs on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The deal came as irate Democrats had vowed to vote against the entire spending bill and trigger a shutdown in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said late Thursday there were “snags on both sides” as he and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tried to work through any objections that could delay passage past the Friday deadline.
The latest:
Leaders from Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland and other countries have recently visited China, while more are planning to go.
Since Trump took office again, America’s closest allies are exploring opportunities with China following clashes with Trump over tariffs and his demands to take over Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
They’re resetting relations with a country long seen as a top adversary to many Western partners and the top economic rival to the U.S. despite the risk of irking Trump. This week alone, the prime ministers of the U.K. and Finland went to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Protesters across the U.S. are calling for a nationwide strike to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The demonstrations are calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” on Friday.
The calls come almost a week after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was killed while recording Border Patrol officers with his cellphone.
Multiple businesses announced they would be closed during the “blackout,” while some schools canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences. Some students are planning walkouts, while others plan to gather in churches, courthouses and city centers in solidarity.
Three other people were arrested with Lemon on Friday in connection with an anti-immigration protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration.
Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said.
It is unclear what charge or charges Lemon and the others are facing in the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul. Lemon’s arrest came after a magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge him.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and that he was there as a journalist chronicling protesters.
Warsh was previously a runner-up for the Senate-confirmed post of Fed Chair in 2017, when Trump selected Powell to lead the central bank.
Warsh is credentialed with degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University Law School. He is also married to Jane Lauder, the daughter of billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, a major Republican donor.
At 35, Warsh became the youngest governor on the Fed’s seven member board, serving in that post from 2006 to 2011. Warsh worked closely with then-Chair Ben Bernanke in 2008-09 during the central bank’s efforts to combat the financial crisis and the Great Recession.
Warsh has been working as a visiting economics fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank located at Stanford University. He is also a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a partner at the Duquesne Family Office, which manages the wealth of billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller.
The Department of Homeland Security says that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now heading the investigation into the shooting death of Alex Pretti.
The Department said earlier this week that Homeland Security Investigations, which is a unit within the department, would be heading the investigation.
But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during an interview with Fox News on Thursday that the FBI was in the lead. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department said Friday in an email that HSI will support them.
Separately, Customs and Border Protection is doing its own internal investigation.
Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about when the change was made or why.
“Don Lemon is an accomplished journalist whose urgent work is protected by the First Amendment,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on social media.
“There is zero basis to arrest him. He should be freed immediately.”
He said “The Trump Justice Department is illegitimate. They will all be held accountable for their crimes against the Constitution.”
The retiring North Carolina senator has been among a group of Senate Republicans who have rushed to the defense of current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after it was revealed earlier this month that the Justice Department had opened an inquiry into him.
After Trump said Friday that he would nominate former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh to serve as the next chair of the Fed, Tillis made clear the inquiry would stand in the way of any confirmation.
“I will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee, including for the position of Chairman, until the DOJ’s inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved,” Tillis wrote.
Tillis, a swing vote on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the Federal Reserve and approves central bank nominees, said in his post that Warsh is a “qualified nominee,” but stressed that “protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from political interference or legal intimidation is non-negotiable.”
Tillis’s opposition could complicate the confirmation process for Warsh and Senate GOP leaders. Asked late Thursday whether Warsh could be confirmed without Tillis’s support, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, “probably not.”
Journalist Don Lemon has been arrested after he entered a Minnesota church and recorded anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted a service in an incident that increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, his lawyer said Friday.
It was not immediately clear what charge or charges Lemon was facing in the Jan. 18 protest. The arrest came after a magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the journalist.
Trump says he’ll nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to be the next Fed chair.
Friday’s pick is likely to result in sharp changes to the powerful agency that could bring it closer to the White House and reduce its longtime independence from day-to-day politics.
Warsh would replace Jerome Powell when his term expires in May. Trump chose Powell to lead the Fed in 2017 but recently has assailed him for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Warsh’s appointment requires Senate confirmation.
Warsh was on the Fed’s board from 2006 to 2011. He’s a fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Trump has signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move that puts pressure on Mexico.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her government had at least temporarily stopped oil shipments to Cuba.
She says it was a “sovereign decision” not made under pressure from the U.S. Trump has squeezed Mexico to distance itself from the Cuban government. In the wake of the U.S. military operation to oust former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump has said the Cuban government is ready to fall.
Trump is suing the IRS and Treasury Department for $10 billion, as he accuses the federal agencies of a failure to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
The suit, filed in a Florida federal court, includes the president’s sons Eric Trump and, Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump organization as plaintiffs.
Melania Trump is capping her first year back as first lady with the global release of a documentary she produced about the 20 days leading up to her husband’s return to the White House.
A private person, Melania Trump remains a bit of a mystery to the public in her husband’s second term. “Melania” premiered Thursday at the Kennedy Center before it is released on Friday in more than 1,500 theaters in the U.S. and around the world.
President Donald Trump arrives for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
