#pipe bombs

Ryan Lucas and Carrie Johnson at NPR:

The man authorities say is responsible for placing two pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol complex in 2021 told investigators he believed conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Trump, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The FBI on Thursday arrested Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, and charged him with transportation of an explosive device via interstate commerce, and attempted malicious destruction by means of an explosive device, according to an arrest warrant filed in his case. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the investigation continues and more charges may be added. The FBI has spent years searching for the person who put bombs near the Democratic and Republican committee headquarters, hours before a mob of Trump supporters assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Department of Justice said Cole spoke to law enforcement for more than four hours on Thursday in a custodial interview. He expressed views supportive of Trump, and said he believed the 2020 conspiracy theories, according to the person familiar with the investigation, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Cole spoke to investigators after his arrest at his home in Woodbridge, Va., that he shares with his mother and other family members, about 30 miles from Washington, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court. New leaders at the FBI and the Justice Department intensified their focus on the case this year amid intense pressure to solve the crime, including from Trump's political base.

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Jan. 6 timeline

The discovery of the bombs occurred at a critical moment in 2021 — the first was discovered just before the initial breach of rioters at the Peace Circle near the Capitol, and then the second was found as Proud Boys helped flood the Capitol's west front and the fighting was intensifying. "If those pipe bombs were intended to be a diversion, plainly speaking, it worked," Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton told Congress in 2021. Former USCP Chief Steven Sund wrote in his book that the discovery of the bombs diverted attention and resources at critical moments: "I believe the timing and placement of these devices were deliberate diversionary tactics, intended to divert significant resources away from securing the Capitol, which they succeeded in doing."

The person who put pipe bombs near both the RNC and DNC headquarters in early January 2021 was Brian Cole Jr. The suspect was a Trump supporter who championed election denialist propaganda.

See Also:

Ken Klippenstein: Jan. 6 Pipe Bomber Finally Arrested Half Decade Later

Civil Discourse (Joyce Vance): An Alleged Bomber, Arrested and Charged

“Another Outrage Near ‘Douk’ Area,” The Province (Vancouver). April 25, 1932. Page 12. ---- Five-foot Section of Irrigation Line Blown Up By Dynamite ----- NELSON, April 25. - Reports current in Nelson over the week-end that the Robson Irrigation district's flume had been dynamited in the vicinity of the dam were confirmed from Robson Sunday night, when a resident telephoned full details. 

The outrage Is assumed to have occurred Friday night, the drying up of a new Doukhobor settlement's flume from the same dam, Saturday, leading to an investigation, which disclosed what had happened. 

A five-foot section of the Robson wood-stave pipe, a foot in diameter, was blown up, also destroying the valve, so that water flowed freely into the hole caused by the explosion, filling it, and as freely flowed into the unobstructed Robson pipe, thus lowering the water in the reservoir to below the intake of the upper pipe. Steps are being taken to repair the pipe-line.

All that was left intact of the five-foot section destroyed was the wire binding around the pipe. 

A piece of burned fuse indicated that the destruction was accomplished with dynamite or blasting powder. 

This Is the fifth outrage In areas contiguous to Doukhobor settlements in seven days, four of them Involving bombs, the fifth being tampering with the Canadian Pacific Railway track at Fisherman. 

Damage done by the bombing of the C. P. R. water tank at Perry's Siding Friday night amounts amounts to about $200. A considerable quantity of oil was found around the housing of the tank, which was scorched. The explosion damaged the water connections. It is presumed the dynamite was placed in a bottle, parts of which have been found. Repairs are being made.