WASHINGTON – U.S. District Judge Amir Ali has denied a request for the pretrial release of Brian J. Cole Jr., a 30-year-old man charged with placing two pipe bombs near the national offices of the Republican and Democratic parties in Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2021. The federal judge’s decision on Thursday upheld an earlier ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh, who determined at a January 2 hearing that no set of release conditions would sufficiently mitigate the threat Cole is believed to pose to public safety.
Cole faces serious allegations connected to the pipe bombs discovered outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters. According to court filings, these incidents occurred the evening before the violent mob assembled to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Since his arrest on December 4, Cole has been held in custody. Law enforcement officials reportedly used phone records and additional evidence to link Cole to the devices, a case that had perplexed the FBI for over four years. Cole, a Virginia resident who lived with his parents in Woodbridge, has been diagnosed with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His defense attorneys note he has no prior criminal history.
Prosecutors assert that Cole admitted to attempting to carry out "an extraordinary act of political violence." They indicated that he expressed dissatisfaction with the responses of leaders from both major parties to questions about the 2020 presidential election, stating that "something just snapped." The judiciary documents characterize his actions as the outcome of weeks of planning rather than an impulsive decision.
“While the defendant may have reached a psychological breaking point, his crimes were anything but impulsive,” prosecutors wrote. “Indeed, the defendant’s pipe bombs—and the fear and terror they instilled in the general public—were the product of weeks of premeditation and planning.”
The defense requested that Cole be released from jail to home detention under electronic monitoring. They further claimed that according to a defense expert, the pipe bombs discovered by the RNC and DNC were never functional explosive devices. They state, “In fact, there was no possibility of death, injury or destruction as the devices were harmless.”
Should Cole be convicted of both counts against him, he faces up to 10 years in prison on one count and up to 20 years on the other, which includes a mandatory minimum five-year sentence.