Federal prosecutors have added terrorism and weapons-of-mass-destruction charges against the Virginia man accused of planting pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees in 2021, and he could now face a harsher prison sentence if found guilty.
Brian Cole Jr. was arrested in December after a nearly five-year investigation into the explosives placed near the U.S. Capitol the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He gave a detailed confession to FBI agents on the day of his arrest, according to court documents, then pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with transporting explosives across state lines and maliciously attempting to detonate them.
Those initial charges, if proved in court, would have required a prison sentence of seven to 40 years. Federal prosecutors in D.C. this week obtained a superseding indictment adding two more counts: attempting to use weapons of mass destruction and committing an act of terrorism while armed. Cole, 30, now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Attorneys for Cole said in a court filing this month that they might rely on a discredited conspiracy theory — that a Capitol Police officer planted the explosives — as his trial defense. The defense also has asked to have the case dismissed, arguing that President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon of Jan. 6 rioters covers Cole.
Prosecutors have said that the former Capitol Police officer was investigated but ruled out as a suspect and that Trump’s pardon, which applies to offenses “on January 6, 2021,” does not cover the planting of the pipe bombs the day before the insurrection.
A spokesperson for the defense criticized U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro for pursuing tougher charges against Cole at the same time that she is moving to vacate the convictions of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who helped plan the Jan. 6 riots and led the charge into the U.S. Capitol.
“This means that the government now wants Brian Cole Jr. (a Black man) to go down in history as the only alleged, accused January 6-related individual to serve not only a jail sentence, but to serve the rest of his life in prison,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.
During the first two hours of his FBI interview in December, Cole denied placing the pipe bombs and said he was a Trump supporter. After being told that lying to federal agents could be charged as an additional crime, Cole admitted that he planted the bombs out of frustration with both political parties and “denied that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6,” prosecutors said.
A prosecutor in Pirro’s office, Charles R. Jones, said at a court hearing this year that Cole led “an essentially monastic lifestyle,” working at his father’s bail bondsman company and living with his mother in Woodbridge, Virginia. Jones said Cole was radicalized online, largely by consuming content on YouTube, Reddit and Discord.
Prosecutors said Cole taught himself how to make black powder from a video game and watched science videos to round out his bombmaking knowledge, buying components at local stores including Lowe’s, Walmart and Home Depot, while keeping his family in the dark about his activities.
In a court filing last week, prosecutors disclosed new details about their investigation that suggested Cole had been researching how to make homemade bombs since 2012.
A thumb drive found in the basement of his home showed signs of deleted files with titles including “anarchist-cookbook-william-powell,” “anarchistcookbook2000,” “Chemical Equivalency List” and “Revolutionary Handbook,” while a hard drive recovered from a bedroom showed that a user named “Brian” had conducted internet searches for “how to make a pipe bomb,” “manifesto template” and “list of manifestos,” prosecutors said.
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