Suspect Brian Cole confessed to planting the bomb by parroting President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Published January 2, 2026
A federal judge has denied pretrial release to a man accused of planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
On Friday, Magistrate Matthew Sharbaugh ruled that 30-year-old Brian Cole must remain jailed until his trial. The judge concluded that there were no conditions of release that could reasonably protect the public from the danger Cole allegedly posed.
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Justice Department prosecutors said Cole confessed to planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters hours before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Prosecutors said Cole said he wanted the explosives to go off and “hoped there would be some news about it.”
“Fortunately, that did not happen,” Judge Sharbaugh wrote in his order.
“However, had the plan been successful, the results could have been catastrophic, creating further fear on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing significant property damage in the heart of Washington, D.C., and seriously injuring DNC and RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse,” he said.
After his arrest last month, Cole told investigators he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden was stolen, and that he wanted to target political parties in the country because they were “in charge,” prosecutors said.
President Trump and his allies have spent months making baseless claims that the 202 votes were tainted by widespread fraud, a position he has maintained since his 2024 election victory.
The president was later charged with inciting the January 6, 2021, riot while Congress was meeting to certify the election results, but the case was thrown out after his 2024 election victory. Under longstanding Justice Department policy, sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
Since taking office, President Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 rioters convicted of violent crimes at the Capitol.
If convicted, Cole faces up to 10 years in prison on the first charge and up to 20 years in prison on the second charge, with a minimum term of five years in prison.
Cole’s lawyer asked that he be released on home detention with GPS monitoring. They said Cole has no criminal history, has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lives in a stable home he shares with his parents in Woodbridge, Virginia.
“Mr. Cole simply does not pose a danger to the community,” defense attorneys said in a court filing. “Whatever risks the government assumes are theoretical and backward-looking, they belie the past four years Mr. Cole has been living uneventfully at home with his family.”
Prosecutors said Cole continued to buy bomb-making parts in the months after the January 6 riot. Investigators said the suspect told the FBI that the pipe bomb was “just something that went off.”
“The suddenness of the motive behind Mr. Cole’s alleged actions indicates concern about how quickly similar sudden and impulsive acts may reoccur,” Judge Sharbaugh said in his order.
