Inset: Brian Cole Jr. (Department of Justice). Background: Surveillance footage allegedly shows Brian Cole Jr. walking around Washington, D.C., while placing pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC headquarters (DOJ).
Newly released court documents accused a Virginia man of confessing to planting pipe bombs “outside” the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., just one day before the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack. Federal prosecutors who say the man told investigators he did this because he wanted to “speak up” for 2020 election deniers are now choosing to stall the case, according to his lawyers.
“Disclosure is required now, not later,” Brian Cole Jr.”s attorneys write in a 15-page motion for discovery filed Monday, which seeks an order that directs the government to cough up all copies of evidence against him, including “any and all statements, confessions, or admissions.”
Cole’s lawyers say the Justice Department has “asked to push” his preliminary hearing to either Jan. 7 or 8 — but prosecutors have no concrete reason why, the attorneys say, other than “ordinary scheduling matters and the possibility of a forthcoming indictment,” according to court documents.
“That request comes too late,” Cole’s team says in a motion to confirm his preliminary hearing filed late Sunday. “In its email to defense counsel, the government has identified no extraordinary circumstances.”
Cole’s lawyers want the court to direct the government to be “prepared to present its evidence in support of probable cause” on Tuesday, should the preliminary hearing happen. They say Cole has already consented to an extension that moved his hearing to Tuesday, “but he has not consented to any further delay,” according to their motion.
“Dec. 30 is the proper, timely date for the preliminary hearing,” Cole’s team says. “The government’s desire to accommodate ordinary scheduling or the pace of a grand jury is not a lawful basis to continue the hearing for which it has had more than three weeks to prepare.”
Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia earlier this month with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property. He was also charged with attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials.
According to federal prosecutors, Cole drove his Nissan Sentra to Washington, D.C., by himself on Jan. 5, 2021, to plant at least two pipe bombs downtown “in the immediate vicinity” of the RNC and DNC headquarters. The improvised explosive devices had 60-minute timers, but failed to detonate. Cole allegedly said he planted them at night “because he did not want to kill people,” according to the DOJ.
Federal prosecutors say Cole learned how to make the bombs by playing video games. He allegedly admitted that he is a Trump supporter but does not like “either party” and wanted to go after the RNC and DNC because he was sick of election deniers being called “conspiracy theorists” and other “bad” things.
“The defendant felt that ‘the people up top,’ including ‘people on both sides, public figures,’ should not ‘ignore[e] people’s grievances’ or call them ‘conspiracy theorists,’ ‘bad people,’ ‘Nazis,’ or ‘fascists,” according to a DOJ memorandum that was filed Sunday in support of pretrial detention.
“Instead, ‘if people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then . . . at the very least someone should address it,'” Cole allegedly told federal investigators. “He explained that ‘something just snapped’ after ‘watching everything, just everything getting worse.'”
The DOJ says Cole’s pipe bombs were not discovered until approximately 1 p.m. on Jan. 6. “The FBI explosives examiner assessed that the pipe bombs were constructed using all the components necessary to explode and that they were viable explosive devices,” prosecutors say in the pretrial detention filing.
Cole initially claimed he traveled to D.C. to show his support for Trump in the Jan. 6 protests and riots before allegedly admitting he went to plant the bombs ahead of the demonstrations and Capitol attack. “I didn’t agree with what people were doing, like just telling half the country that they – that their [votes] – that they just need to ignore it,” Cole allegedly told federal investigators. “In the defendant’s view, if people ‘feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being – you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top.”
Cole explained that the idea to use pipe bombs came from his interest in history, specifically the “Troubles in Ireland,” according to prosecutors. He allegedly denied that his actions were aimed at Congress or related to Jan. 6.
“After planting the devices, the defendant returned to his car, left the city, picked up food from a restaurant in Virginia, and returned home,” the DOJ filing says. “After seeing himself on the news, the defendant stated that he discarded all the bomb-making materials he had at a nearby dump.”
Cole was arrested at his home in Woodbridge on Dec. 4 following a federal investigation.
