US judge orders DC pipe bomb suspect to remain in custody ahead of trial

A federal judge in the United States has forbade a man from entering a pre-trial hearing on the eve of the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, because he is accused of planting two pipe bombs outside the offices of the Democratic and Republican national parties.

Brian Cole, 30, must remain in jail until trial, according to magistrate judge Matthew Sharbaugh’s ruling on Friday. According to the magistrate, Cole allegedly poses a threat to the public under no circumstances under the circumstances that could reasonably shield them from harm.

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Prior to a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters storming the US Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results, according to prosecutors from the Department of Justice. Cole admitted to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters.

Cole claimed to have hoped the explosives would detonate and that he had “hoped there would be news about it.”

Judge Sharbaugh wrote in the order, “Mercifully, that did not happen.”

However, he claimed, “the outcomes” could have been devastating, “creating a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, DC, grievously injuring DNC or RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse.”

According to prosecutors, Cole told investigators that he felt the country’s political parties needed to “speak up” because they were “in charge” and that he wanted to target them because they were “in charge” of the 2020 election.

Trump and his supporters have been making blatant claims that the 202 vote was harmed by widespread fraud, which he has maintained ever since his election victory in 2024. They have spent months making up their minds.

The US president was later charged with conspiring to stoke the riot that broke out as Congress gathered to approve the election results on January 6, 2021, but the investigation was dropped after his victory in the 2024 election. It is against the law to prosecute sitting presidents, as has long been the Justice Department’s policy.

More than 1,500 rioters were pardoned after Trump took office, including those who had been charged with violent crimes at the Capitol.

On one charge, Cole faces up to 10 years in prison, and on a second charge, which also requires a 5-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, she faces up to 20 years in prison.

Cole’s attorneys requested that he be placed in home confinement with GPS monitoring. According to them, Cole does not have a criminal record, has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorder, and reside in a stable home in Woodbridge, Virginia, with his parents.

His defense attorneys wrote in court documents that “Mr. Cole does not purport to be a threat to the community.” The government’s claim that any risk is theoretical and backward-looking is belied by Mr. Cole’s family’s uninterrupted homesteading for four years is true.

According to the prosecution, Cole continued to purchase bomb-making components after the riot on January 6. They claimed that because “something just snapped,” he admitted to telling the FBI.