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 he awaits trial, the Justice Department unveiled new allegations about the potential motive and actions of defendant Brian Cole, accused of planting the bombs on Jan. 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 transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, according to charging documents.
Cole has yet to enter pleas. His lead defense counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.
Sunday’s court filing alleges Cole had animosity for both political parties at a time when, he told investigators, he was “watching everything, just everything getting worse.”
The filing said he made the statements 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 confessed to having planted the pipe bombs in an interview with FBI agents. Two sources familiar with the matter also previously told NBC News that Cole believed in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
In Sunday’s filing, prosecutors alleged that Cole told agents that if people thought “something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with … then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top.”
The “people up top” included public figures “on both sides” who should not ignore people’s grievances or call them “conspiracy theorists,” “bad people,” “Nazis” or “fascists,” according to the filing.
“If people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then … at the very least someone should address it,” Cole was quoted as saying.
Jones wrote that Cole said he did not like either party and that “something just snapped” after he had watched “everything getting worse.” He directed his ire at the Democratic and Republican parties because “they were in charge,” Cole told agents, according to the filing.
The filing said that although the pipe bombs were planted on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, during which supporters of President Donald Trump sought to thwart certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, the events were not related.
“The defendant denied that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6,” Jones wrote.
Prosecutors said Cole had purchased some of the items needed for the pipe bombs from 2018 to 2020. He was alleged to have been inspired to use pipe bombs by his interest in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, according to the filing, in which sectarian violence erupted for three decades and included bomb attacks.
“According to the defendant, he was not really thinking about how people would react when the bombs detonated, although he hoped there would be news about it,” the filing said. “The defendant stated that he had not tested the devices before planting them.”
Cole drove to D.C. from his home and kept the bombs, which he assembled just hours before and wiped off with disinfectant wipes, in a shoe box, prosecutors alleged in the filing. He set the devices to detonate in one hour, prosecutors said, but they did not for reasons not made clear.
Sunday’s filing said Cole was “pretty relieved” when he learned the bombs did not go off because he did not want to kill people.
Prosecutors said Cole discarded all bomb-making materials at a dump after he saw himself on the news. Components for the bombs, prosecutors wrote, included a pipe nipple, end caps, wires, a 9-volt battery and homemade black powder, among other items.
Cole said he did not tell anyone about the pipe bombs in the years since, the filing said. Agents searching his home this month found pipe nipples, iron end caps, wire and wire strippers. Agents also were said to have found a receipt 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 that no one was killed or maimed due to his actions,” Jones wrote in the filing. “Indeed, the defendant admitted that he set both devices to detonate 60 minutes after he placed them.”
In the filing, Jones noted that first responders, party leaders and “the Vice President-elect and Speaker of the House” drove by the pipe bombs before they were discovered.
“His failure to accomplish his objectives does not mitigate the profoundly dangerous nature of his crimes,” Jones wrote.
