The man suspected of placing pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties in 2021 felt “extreme acts of violence” were justified because “they were in charge,” federal prosecutors said Sunday.
In a request filed Sunday to keep him behind bars while awaiting trial, the Justice Department revealed new allegations about the possible motive and actions of Brian Cole, the defendant accused of planting the bomb on January 5, 2021.
Cole, 30, who lives with his mother and other family members in Virginia, about 25 miles southwest of Capitol Hill, was arrested Dec. 4 and charged with carrying an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive material, according to charging documents.
Cole has not yet entered a plea. His lead defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.
The petition filed in court Sunday alleges Cole had animosity toward both political parties at the time, telling investigators he was “watching everything, just everything getting worse.”
The filing said he gave the statement to FBI agents, who interviewed him at the bureau’s Washington Field Office after his arrest. The request filed Sunday was written by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones.
NBC News, citing three sources familiar with the matter, previously reported that Cole had confessed to planting the pipe bombs in an interview with FBI agents. Two sources familiar with the matter previously told NBC News that Cole believed in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
In Sunday’s filing, prosecutors allege that Cole told agents that if people felt “something as important as voting in a federal election is being tampered with… then, like, someone needs to speak up, OK? Someone at the top.”
According to the filing, the “people at the top” include public figures “on both sides” who should not ignore people’s complaints or call them “conspiracy theorists,” “bad guys,” “Nazis” or “fascists.”
Cole was quoted as saying, “If people feel like their votes are just being thrown away, then… at least someone should pay attention.”
Jones wrote that Cole said he did not like any of the parties and that “something broke” after he had seen “everything go to waste”. According to the filing, Cole told agents, he directed his anger at the Democratic and Republican parties because “they were in charge.”
The filing said that although the pipe bombs were planted on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, during which supporters of President Donald Trump sought to thwart the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, the events were not linked.
“The defendant denies that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings on January 6,” Jones wrote.
Prosecutors said Cole purchased some of the items needed for pipe bombs from 2018 to 2020. According to the filing, he was accused of being motivated to use pipe bombs because of his interest in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, which sparked sectarian violence for three decades and also included bomb attacks.
“According to the defendant, he was not really thinking about how people would react when the bombs exploded, although he expected there would be news about it,” the filing said. “The defendant stated that he did not test the devices before installing them.”
Prosecutors allege in the filing that Cole drove from his home to D.C. and placed the bombs, which he had collected hours earlier and wiped down with disinfectant wipes. He had set the devices to detonate in one hour, but did not do so for reasons not explained, prosecutors said.
Sunday’s filing said Cole was “considerably relieved” when he learned the bombs did not explode because he did not want to kill people.
Prosecutors said Cole threw all the bomb-making materials in the trash after seeing himself on the news. The bombs’ components included a pipe nipple, end caps, wire, a 9-volt battery and homemade black powder, among other items, prosecutors wrote.
Cole said he did not tell anyone about the pipe bombs in the past few years, the filing said. Agents who searched his home this month found pipe nipples, iron end caps, wire and wire strippers. It was also said that agents found receipts for hand sanitizer and pipe nipples in Cole’s car, as well as a shopping bag containing end caps and a 9-volt battery.
“Ultimately, it was luck, not lack of effort, that the defendant failed to detonate one or both of his devices and no one was killed or maimed because of his actions,” Jones wrote in the filing. “Indeed, the defendant admitted that he set both devices to detonate 60 minutes after placing them.”
In the filing, Jones noted that first responders, party leaders and “the Vice President-elect and the Speaker of the House” had passed by him before the pipe bombs were discovered.
“His failure to carry out his objectives does not diminish the extremely dangerous nature of his crimes,” Jones wrote.
