Federal authorities made their first arrest Thursday in connection with two pipe bombs that were planted outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Four law enforcement sources told CBS News the suspect is 30-year-old Brian Cole of Woodbridge, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C. He is expected to be charged in federal court in Washington on Thursday, according to an FBI source. The school district for Prince William County, Virginia, which includes Woodbridge, confirmed to CBS News that Cole graduated from high school in 2013.
The arrest marks a major step forward in a case that has vexed the FBI for nearly five years. The pipe bombs were placed outside DNC and RNC headquarters on the evening of Jan. 5, federal investigators have said.
The devices — made out of 1×8-inch pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder — did not detonate, but the FBI has called them viable and warned they could have killed or injured people.
The bombs were not discovered until the afternoon of Jan. 6, as police in the area were overwhelmed by rioting at the Capitol building nearby. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the vice president-elect at the time, was evacuated from the DNC headquarters shortly after the devices were found.
“We are grateful to the law enforcement officers who have dedicated years to investigating the pipe bombs planted at the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters on the eve of the January 6th insurrection,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said following the arrest. “Those responsible for this horrific act must be brought to justice, and political violence should never be accepted in America.”
Over the subsequent months and years, federal law enforcement scoured the country for alleged Capitol riot participants, tracking down and charging more than 1,500 people.
But the pipe bomb case had remained a lingering mystery amid the events of that week. The FBI had not made an arrest or identified a suspect before Thursday, though it has periodically released footage of a potential suspect — grainy security camera images of a shadowy figure in a hoodie — and offered $500,000 for information.
In May, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino said on X the pipe bomb investigation was one of several unsolved cases that had drawn “additional resources and investigative attention.” He said he had received weekly briefings on the case and the FBI was “making progress.”