Who Is Brian Cole, Suspect in the DC Pipe Bomb Case?

This morning Ed wrote about the arrest of a suspect in the January 6 pipe bomb case. His name is Brian Cole Jr. and when Ed covered the story there wasn’t much information about who he was or what might have motivated him. 

Later in the day we’re starting to get a pretty clear picture. In fact, let’s start with a picture.

Accused DC pipe-bomber Brian Cole Jr.’s face unmasked for first time after arrest in resurfaced photo https://t.co/nPU5GLtwZn pic.twitter.com/4ozgPNS2g7

— New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2025

The NY Post explained where the photo came from:

Cole’s mother shared the smiling picture of him in a blue dress shirt and tie on Instagram for National Son’s Day in September 2024 — more than three years after the alleged attempted bombing.

So what do we know about Cole? Well, he worked in the family business as a bail bondsman.

Brian Cole, Jr. worked for a bail bonds company run by his father that worked to free illegal immigrants from ICE facilities and sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.

Weeks before 30-year-old Cole Jr. allegedly planted pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Democrat and Republican parties on January 6, 2021, a court ruled against the company in its lawsuit attacking the Trump administration on immigration issues, The Daily Wire has learned…

Later in 2021, the company held a press conference bemoaning anti-black racism with a left-wing attorney. Cole Sr. and Benjamin Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin, attempted to sic the Biden Department of Justice on a local Tennessee prosecutor who had raised questions about the bail bond company.

This next bit comes from a report at MSNOW so take it with a grain of salt. They report that Cole has made statements connecting him to anarchism.

The allegations, if proven, would end a longstanding mystery that sparked a multitude of conspiracy theories over who planted the pipe bombs before a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol aiming to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election as president.  Authorities have not yet determined a motive, a law enforcement official said. But the suspect has been linked to statements in support of anarchist ideology, said two people briefed on the arrest who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post had a similar but slightly different report also based on anonymous sources.

Law enforcement officials are investigating a motive, but two people familiar with the matter described the 30-year-old Cole as an extremist in his political beliefs. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of an ongoing investigation. 

None of that has been confirmed publicly yet. AG Pam Bondi didn’t offer any specifics about Cole’s motives during the press conference this afternoon. However, Bondi, FBI Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino all promised that there would be more information coming as this case headed to trial. Bongino specifically mentioned an a-ha moment when they knew they had a suspect but didn’t say what the evidence was.

My take, after listening to this, is that they have a lot more evidence to back this up but Kash Patel in particular is being careful about sharing it, probably because he’s taken a lot of heat in the past for sharing evidence on X. Here’s the full press conference.

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