Washington — A federal judge on Friday ordered the Virginia man suspected of leaving two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees in 2021 to remain detained in the run-up to a criminal trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh granted the Justice Department’s request to keep the suspect, Brian Cole, in custody while he awaits a trial on two criminal charges. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges, which stem from the alleged planting of two improvised explosive devices near the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the RNC and DNC on Jan. 5, 2021, on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Sharbaugh wrote in a 19-page opinion that “the government carried its ultimate burden to demonstrate that there are no conditions of release the Court could impose to reasonably assure the safety of the community.”
The decision came after Cole appeared in court Tuesday for a hearing on whether he should remain detained in the lead-up to a trial.
Justice Department lawyers had argued in a legal filing that Cole poses an “intolerable risk” to the community and urged the court to keep him in custody “considering the extreme and profoundly serious nature of his crimes, the overwhelming evidence of his guilt, the years he has spent deceiving those around him to avoid accountability, and the intolerable risk that he will again resort to violence to express his frustration with the world around him.”
But in arguing for his release, Cole’s lawyers said he has lived “without incident” in the nearly five years since the bombs were planted and has no criminal history.
His legal team wrote in a filing ahead of the hearing that Cole had been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 1, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Level 1 is the mildest form on the spectrum, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.