WASHINGTON — For years, far-right Republicans have claimed the federal authorities’s failure to catch the Jan. 6 pipe bomber confirmed the entire rebel was some kind of “inside job” designed to entrap Donald Trump supporters.
So what did they do when the FBI lastly arrested a suspect, seemingly blowing up their theories? They doubled down.
In response to the arrest of Brian J. Cole, the 30-year-old Virginia man accused of constructing and putting the 2 units, Republicans’ particular committee to rewrite the historical past of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol this week despatched out a recent interview request, formally asking the girl who discovered the system close to Republican Nationwide Committee headquarters to inform them what she is aware of.
“The way I look at these is we always have a theory. We try to prove that theory false. Then you can move on to something else,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), the chair of the committee, informed HuffPost.
Loudermilk wonders if Cole might have had assist: “Did he have a conspirator on the Hill? Or was it part of a bigger organization?”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who partnered with Loudermilk on an investigation of the pipe bomb case earlier this yr, mentioned a confidential supply informed him the federal government may even have arrested the mistaken man.
“I had another protected disclosure last night from a whistleblower on this case which leads me to believe they’ve got the wrong guy, or he is being ― he was highly manipulated, if he had anything to do with it,” Massie informed HuffPost on Friday, referring to Cole. “His level of functioning is, I think, lower than is being reported.”
The FBI, the Justice Division and Cole’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Friday.
Citing financial institution data, cellphone information, license plate scanners and surveillance video, the federal government has mentioned Cole assembled the 2 pipe bombs from supplies he bought over the course of two years. He then positioned them exterior every occasion’s headquarters constructing the night earlier than Congress would certify President Donald Trump’s loss within the 2020 election.
Officers have mentioned Cole, who lives along with his mom in a D.C. suburb, supported Trump and didn’t just like the election end result.
“He was disappointed in various aspects of the election,” Jeanine Pirro, Trump’s handpicked prosecutor for Washington, D.C., informed ABC Information in an interview.
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi advised there might be extra expenses, although it wasn’t clear she was referring to extra expenses in opposition to Cole or another person.
“This is ongoing. It’s very active. The search warrants are still being executed. Many charges potentially to come,” Bondi mentioned.
However D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith sounded extra definitive that they’d caught the man who did it: “The suspect responsible for this act is now in custody.”
Tom Williams by way of Getty Pictures
Because the years glided by and not using a break within the pipe bomb case — and because the Justice Division arrested and charged greater than 1,500 Trump supporters for taking part within the riot that day — right-wing media latched on to the pipe bombs because the thriller that would exonerate Trump and his supporters.
The Blaze, an outlet based by former Fox Information host Glenn Beck, went as far as to call a former Capitol Police officer because the pipe bomber. They retracted the story after Cole’s arrest, and an lawyer for the officer advised to The Bulwark {that a} huge defamation lawsuit might be coming.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, earlier than he was tapped for his present position, mentioned on his podcast in January that the pipe bombs had been an inside job designed to cease Republicans from objecting to the certification of Trump’s victory.
“It is a Democrat insider or an anti-Trump lunatic who was trying to stop on Jan. 6, four years ago, the Republicans from objecting to the election,” Bongino mentioned. “So they figured if they planted a bomb there that they could rush into the Capitol and go, ‘Stop the objections! Kamala Harris was almost killed by you!’”
Final week, after Cole’s arrest, Bongino mentioned he was “paid for my opinions” when he was podcasting. “But that’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts,” Bongino mentioned on Fox Information.
Of their January 2025 report on the unsolved pipe bomb case, Loudermilk and Massie mentioned the bombs served as a diversion that helped rioters breach the Capitol.
“The discovery of both pipe bombs, which had been laying outside for more than 16 hours, occurred within minutes of Congress’s vote to certify the 2020 presidential election and resulted in federal law enforcement diverting considerable resources away from the United States Capitol,” the Loudermilk-Massie report mentioned. “As a result, while law enforcement responded to the pipe bombs, protesters breached security perimeters at the Capitol and entered the building.”
Different conservative media homed in on Karlin Youthful, the D.C. resident who first observed one among Cole’s units and instantly informed police, profitable plaudits for being a very good citizen. Pundit Julie Kelly insinuated there was one thing suspicious about Youthful, as an illustration, utilizing scare quotes to say she “found” the explosive.
In a public letter on Monday, Loudermilk requested Youthful for a transcribed interview, notably citing conservative media reviews that she labored for the federal government on the time.
“According to public reports, you were working as a government employee of the Department of Commerce on January 6, 2021, when you discovered a pipe bomb near the RNC,” Loudermilk’s letter mentioned.
Loudermilk informed HuffPost he needs to ask Youthful about her assertion to the FBI that she thought the bomb had been positioned the day of the riot, not the day earlier than, as regulation enforcement has mentioned.
“She’s not a suspect or anything. We just think she can provide information,” Loudermilk mentioned. “I don’t know that anybody’s really looked deeply into where they possibly picked up and put back out again.”
Youthful hasn’t responded to Loudermilk’s question, and he wouldn’t say if he plans to escalate to a subpoena if she doesn’t get in contact. Youthful didn’t reply to a HuffPost question to her work e-mail.
Loudermilk turned Republicans’ level man on their Jan. 6 counter-investigation after the unique Jan. 6 committee, the one led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wis.), launched movies of Loudermilk displaying a few of his constituents the tunnels connecting Home workplace buildings to the Capitol, insinuating he by some means aided the insurrectionists.
The constituents took photos; a few of them later attended Trump’s rally close to the White Home. Police finally mentioned there was nothing suspicious about their picture-taking, which is one thing vacationers typically do within the Capitol tunnels. Loudermilk complained he received demise threats because of the committee’s queries.
HuffPost requested Loudermilk if he had any concern that his public letter would end in Youthful getting undesirable consideration or threats. He acknowledged the chance.
“There’s people on the internet who still say that I gave reconnaissance tours,” he mentioned.
