As we know, the FBI arrested Brian Cole, Jr. last Thursday for allegedly planting pipe bombs outside both RNC and DNC headquarters the night of Jan. 5, 2021. Cole was charged with “transportation of an explosive device via interstate commerce, and attempted malicious destruction by means of an explosive device.” The arrest came nearly five years after the bombs were discovered.
FBI investigators solved the case solely on the evidence the Biden FBI had in its possession by April 2021.
On Monday, the Select Subcommittee on January 6, chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), posted a page from their Jan. 2, 2025, report to the FBI’s affidavit from Cole’s arrest on X and asked the logical question: “Did Biden’s FBI identify Brian Cole Jr. in April 2021? It sure looks like it might have when you compare our pipe bomb report to Cole’s affidavit.”
The committee highlighted the following paragraph from their January 2 report:
As the FBI continued analyzing large datasets from the carriers, certain devices exhibited behavior consistent with the suspect.357 For example, in April 2021, the case team identified a user who was in the area of the DNC at the time the suspect can be seen on video footage using their phone.358 The FBI requested and received the “historical cell tower data” for the user, and as of April 2021, the case team was attempting to “further analyze” the user’s movements.359 It is ultimately unclear what happened with respect to this lead.
And the following paragraph from the affidavit filed on December 3:
Provider records show that the COLE CELLPHONE connected with Provider cell phone towers consistent with the COLE CELLPHONE being in the area of the RNC and DNC on January 5, 2021. The COLE CELLPHONE engaged in approximately seven data session transactions with Provider towers between 7:39 p.m. and 8:24 p.m. Provider’s historical cell site data shows the specific tower for each of the transactions along with the sector of the tower that engaged in the transaction with the COLE CELLPHONE.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Attorney General Merrick Garland must appear before the January 6 Subcommittee and be asked, under oath, why federal investigators, who had solid evidence that placed Cole at the right location at the right time in April 2021 — in fact the same evidence that current FBI investigators used to solve the case — suddenly dropped the investigation?
Although I am speculating, the most logical explanation is that the arrest of the son of a progressive bail bondsman who had sued the Trump administration over its immigration policies — and lost — just weeks before the Capitol riot, wouldn’t have fit their narrative.
We know that in April 2021, the Justice Department and the FBI were focused on another, more urgent matter. They were ramping up their relentless pursuit of the protesters who breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, which the Democrats were characterizing as an “insurrection.”
During a July 2022 briefing on the DOJ’s progress in apprehending individuals who were present at the Capitol on that fateful day, Garland called it “the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.” (as per PBS):
This is the most wide ranging investigation, and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into. And we have done so because this effort to upend a legitimate election, transferring power from one administration to another cuts at the fundamental [core] of American democracy. We have to get this right.
According to PBS, Garland “insisted … that no one is above the law.” He emphasized, “We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election. And we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.”
The Biden administration had a narrative to advance. Simply put, had Cole been a right-winger, he likely would have been charged at the time.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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