D.C. pipe bomb suspect disliked both political parties and felt violence would be justified, prosecutors say

The man suspected of planting pipe bombs near Democratic and Republican party headquarters in 2021 believed “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 awaiting trial, the Justice Department revealed new allegations about the potential motive and actions of defendant Brian Cole, who is accused of planting the bombs on January 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 not yet entered a plea. His lead defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday evening.

Sunday’s court filing alleges that Cole had animosity toward both political parties at a time when, he told investigators, he was “watching everything, just getting worse.”

The filing says he made the statements to FBI agents who questioned 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 planting the pipe bombs during an interview with FBI agents. Two sources familiar with the matter also previously told NBC News that Cole believes in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

In the filing Sunday, prosecutors alleged that Cole told agents that if people thought “something as important as voting in the federal election was being tampered with… then someone had to speak up, right? Someone at the top.”

The “people at the top” included public figures “on both sides” who should not ignore people’s grievances or label them as “conspiracy theorists,” “bad people,” “Nazis” or “fascists,” according to the filing.

“If people feel like their votes are like they’ve been wasted, then…someone should at least take care of it,” Cole reportedly said.

Jones wrote that Cole said he didn’t like either side and that “something broke” after seeing “everything get worse.” He directed his anger at the Democratic and Republican parties because “they were in charge,” Cole told agents, according to the filing.

The filing says that although the pipe bombs were planted on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which supporters of President Donald Trump sought to thwart the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, the events were unrelated.

“The defendant denied that his actions were directed against Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled for January 6,” Jones wrote.

Prosecutors said Cole purchased some of the items needed for the pipe bombs between 2018 and 2020. He was allegedly inspired by his interest in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, according to the filing, during which sectarian violence erupted for three decades and included bombings.

“According to the defendant, he didn’t really think about how people would react when the bombs went off, although he hoped there would be news about it,” the filing states. “The defendant stated that he did not test the devices before planting them.”

Cole drove to Washington from his home and kept the bombs, which he had assembled hours before and wiped with disinfectant wipes, in a shoebox, prosecutors alleged in the filing. He detonated the devices within an hour, prosecutors said, but they did not do so for reasons that were not specified.

Sunday’s filing says Cole was “pretty relieved” when he learned the bombs didn’t go off because he didn’t want to kill people.

Prosecutors said Cole threw all the materials needed to make bombs into a landfill after seeing himself on the news. The components of the bombs, prosecutors wrote, included a pipe fitting, tips, 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 that followed, according to the filing. Officers who searched his home this month found pipe fittings, iron ferrules, wires and stripping pliers. Officers also allegedly found a receipt for hand sanitizer and hose fittings in Cole’s car, as well as a shopping bag containing tips and a 9-volt battery.

“Ultimately, it was luck, not lack of effort, that defendant failed to detonate one or both of his devices and that no one was killed or maimed as a result of his actions,” Jones wrote in the filing. “Indeed, the accused admitted to detonating the two devices 60 minutes after placing them.”

In the filing, Jones noted that first responders, party leaders and “the Vice President-elect and Speaker of the House” walked past the pipe bombs before they were discovered.

“His failure to achieve his goals does not mitigate the profoundly dangerous nature of his crimes,” Jones wrote.