#dnc pipe bombs

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Pipe bomb suspect said he believed 2020 election was stolen, was supportive of Trump

The FBI has spent years searching for the person who put bombs near the Democratic and Republican committee headquarters, hours before the a

Ryan Lucas and Carrie Johnson at NPR:

The man authorities say is responsible for placing two pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol complex in 2021 told investigators he believed conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Trump, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The FBI on Thursday arrested Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, and charged him with transportation of an explosive device via interstate commerce, and attempted malicious destruction by means of an explosive device, according to an arrest warrant filed in his case. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the investigation continues and more charges may be added. The FBI has spent years searching for the person who put bombs near the Democratic and Republican committee headquarters, hours before a mob of Trump supporters assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Department of Justice said Cole spoke to law enforcement for more than four hours on Thursday in a custodial interview. He expressed views supportive of Trump, and said he believed the 2020 conspiracy theories, according to the person familiar with the investigation, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Cole spoke to investigators after his arrest at his home in Woodbridge, Va., that he shares with his mother and other family members, about 30 miles from Washington, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court. New leaders at the FBI and the Justice Department intensified their focus on the case this year amid intense pressure to solve the crime, including from Trump's political base.

[...]

Jan. 6 timeline

The discovery of the bombs occurred at a critical moment in 2021 — the first was discovered just before the initial breach of rioters at the Peace Circle near the Capitol, and then the second was found as Proud Boys helped flood the Capitol's west front and the fighting was intensifying. "If those pipe bombs were intended to be a diversion, plainly speaking, it worked," Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton told Congress in 2021. Former USCP Chief Steven Sund wrote in his book that the discovery of the bombs diverted attention and resources at critical moments: "I believe the timing and placement of these devices were deliberate diversionary tactics, intended to divert significant resources away from securing the Capitol, which they succeeded in doing."

The person who put pipe bombs near both the RNC and DNC headquarters in early January 2021 was Brian Cole Jr. The suspect was a Trump supporter who championed election denialist propaganda.

See Also:

Ken Klippenstein: Jan. 6 Pipe Bomber Finally Arrested Half Decade Later

Civil Discourse (Joyce Vance): An Alleged Bomber, Arrested and Charged

Civil Discourse (Joyce Vance): Charges in the RNC/DNC Bomb Planting Case

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect says he acted to "speak up" for election deniers

Brian Cole is accused of planting bombs near the RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the 2021 Capitol riot.

Alex Nguyen at Mother Jones:

The man who allegedly planted two pipe bombs in Washington, DC, the night before the January 6 Capitol riot told investigators after his arrest earlier this month that someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed that the 2020 election was stolen, according to a court filing on Sunday.  Federal prosecutors said that the defendant, Brian Cole, felt “extreme acts of violence” were necessary as Cole told them he placed the bombs near the RNC and DNC headquarters because “they were in charge.”  The bombs were not discovered until the afternoon of January 6 and did not detonate. Following his arrest this December, Cole initially denied making or planting the bombs but later confessed to transporting and planting two improvised explosive devices when presented with evidence of himself on surveillance video. In the filing, the Justice Department requested that Cole be detained until his trial, as his offense is listed as a federal terrorism crime. 

Cole told investigators that although he “has never really been an openly political person,” he felt “like something was wrong” in the 2020 election and began following discussions on YouTube and Reddit. He said that “the people up top,” including “people on both sides, public figures,” should not “ignore people’s grievances” or call them “conspiracy theorists,” “bad people,” “Nazis,” or “fascists.” “If people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then…at the very least someone should address it,” Cole was quoted as telling investigators.  These events came as Trump repeatedly lied about winning the presidential election. 

Cole denied that his actions were “directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6.” The election was being certified that day when rioters stormed the Capitol building, halting the count of Electoral College ballots. According to the court filing, Cole bought many items needed to construct the bombs between 2018 and 2020. He told investigators that the idea to use pipe bombs came from his interest in the Troubles, a three-decade conflict in Northern Ireland beginning in the 1960s over whether it would remain within the United Kingdom or unite with Ireland as a single state. Bombings of public places, including detonating pipe bombs, were common.

RNC and DNC pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. was motivated to do those terroristic deeds by speaking up for the election deniers who falsely believed that the 2020 election was “stolen.” Such an idea was inspired by his interest in the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

FBI whack job reopens investigations in bid to placate far right

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is wasting even more time on President Donald Trump’s personal grievances, this time by reopening severa

Lisa Needham at Daily Kos:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is wasting even more time on President Donald Trump’s personal grievances, this time by reopening several Biden-era investigations. Dan Bongino, FBI deputy director, is reviving the 2022 leak of the Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a 2023 incident where cocaine was found at the White House, and the pipe bombs of Jan. 6—which Bongino is convinced was an inside job.  Looks like Trump’s executive order to end the weaponization of the federal government actually meant that Trump and his henchmen are going to weaponize it wherever possible.  Like much of the Trump administration, Bongino didn’t get this job because he has any relevant experience, but rather because of his history as a far-right podcaster and Fox News personality. He’s at the FBI to do Trump’s bidding, not to actually run the agency.  But as far right as Bongino is, there hasn’t been enough for the MAGA faithful, who are furious that he and FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide. So now Bongino is trying to get in their good graces—hence these new investigations. 

Except none of these investigations are new. Under President Joe Biden, there was an eight-month investigation into the Dobbs leak, which included interviewing 97 people and having forensic experts review consumer access to the draft. The investigation concluded that it was not possible to identify the leaker. 

[...] In 2023, a small bag of cocaine was found near where visitors are required to leave their cell phones before entering the White House. The FBI and the Secret Service both investigated the incident, even using fingerprint and DNA analysis. The FBI could not develop enough latent evidence to match against the hundreds of people who passed through the area, and the Secret Service closed the investigation for lack of evidence.  Of course, the most likely explanation for a bag of cocaine found near the visitor area is that a visitor left it there. But according to Bongino, there is “absolutely ZERO chance” that anyone other than a Biden family member could have brought in the cocaine, so we pretty much know how his “investigation” of this one will go.  Similarly, Bongino is pretending that there hasn’t been a thorough investigation into the pipe bombs placed near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in January 2021. The FBI visited more than 1,200 homes and businesses and interviewed more than 1,000 people, but Bongino thinks that the FBI is lying and “just doesn’t want to tell us because it was an inside job.”

The FBI under far-right media hacks Kash Patel and Dan Bongino is doing everything to placate to the MAGA nutbars. The reopening of some Biden-era cases, such as the Politico Dobbs leak, is about relitigating far-right grievances.