The suspect in the Jan. 6 pipe bombing case confessed to federal investigators that he was motivated by a desire to “speak up” for people who believed that the 2020 election was stolen.
During an interview with FBI agents, Brian J. Cole, Jr. repeatedly cited conspiracy theories surrounding the integrity of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by the Department of Justice. President Donald Trump and MAGA devotees continue to insist that the election was stolen despite all evidence to the contrary.
Cole, a 30-year-old from Virginia, was charged earlier this month for allegedly planting pipe bombs outside the offices of the Democratic and Republican National Committees on the eve of the violent Capitol riot.
The Justice Department said Cole insisted that he did not plant the bombs—until the FBI confronted him with a still image of himself on surveillance footage around the time that the devices were installed.
Cole initially said he didn’t recognize the person in the photo, and he hadn’t previously seen the video, prompting agents to remind him that lying to them would constitute an additional criminal offense. When they asked him again, his answer changed.
“This time, the defendant paused for approximately fifteen seconds, placed his head face down on the table, and answered, ‘yes,’” the filing reads.
“I really don’t like either party at this point,” he told investigators when asked why he allegedly planted the bombs. Cole said he had “never really been an openly political person,” adding that “no one knows” his political views—not even his own family, whom he said were unaware that he was “going to a protest in support of [then President] Trump” on Jan. 5, 2021.
But Cole recalled that he fell into YouTube and Reddit rabbit holes after the 2020 election, “when it first seemed like something was wrong” and “stuff started happening.”
The suspect believed that if people “feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being – you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top. You know, just to, just to at the very least calm things down.”
Cole said he felt that “the people up top,” including “people on both sides, public figures,” should not “ignore people’s grievances” or brand them as “conspiracy theorists,” “bad people,” “Nazis,” or “fascists.” Instead, he said, “If people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then… at the very least someone should address it.”
When agents asked Cole where he was on the eve of the insurrection, the suspect said he drove to D.C. to join a protest concerning the 2020 election results.
“I didn’t agree with what people were doing, like just telling half the country that they – that their – that they just need to ignore it,” he said. “I didn’t think that was a good idea, so I went to the protest.”
The admission deals a blow to conspiracy theorists who have long posited that the failed Jan. 6 pipe bombing was an inside job by “deep state” actors seeking to discredit the right.
Cole also told investigators that the idea to use pipe bombs was inspired by the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The “troubles”—a euphemism for a 30-year-long conflict between Catholics and Protestants that began in the 1960s—were marked by bombings, street fighting, and assassinations that claimed thousands of lives over the two groups’ opposing views on the independence of Northern Ireland.
Cole is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon.
The FBI is all too familiar with conspiracy theories about the so-called “deep state” and the 2020 election. Its director, Kash Patel, has a long history of pushing unsubstantiated claims about a behind-the-scenes effort to take Trump down.
“Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 presidential election, yes or no?” Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono pressed Patel during his confirmation hearing in January.
“President Biden’s election was certified,” Patel responded. “He was sworn in. And he served as the president of the United States.”
Patel’s former deputy, Dan Bongino, similarly pushed election conspiracy theories in 2020. He announced his plans to leave the FBI after just 10 months on the job in the middle of a firestorm over the release of the Epstein files.
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