The DOJ claimed they had their man in the January 6 pipe bomb case.
But everything is starting to unravel.
And the Justice Department's January 6 pipe bomb case had this big hole blown in it.
FBI's "Viable Bombs" Story Just Collapsed
Brian Cole Jr. sits in federal custody facing charges for allegedly planting two pipe bombs near Capitol Hill on January 5, 2021.
For five straight years, the FBI called these devices "viable explosives" that could have killed anyone nearby.
A 20-year Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives veteran just torched that story.
Brennan Phillips reviewed the FBI's evidence and didn't hold back.
"The two suspected pipe bombs in question do not contain an explosive filler capable of causing an explosion," Phillips wrote.
Black powder requires a specific ratio: 75% potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal, and 10% sulfur.
Phillips examined photos of the powder samples and found "mostly large white particles with some flecks of dark material."
That's poorly mixed ingredients in a bowl, not black powder.
The fusing system was equally worthless.
"A single 9-volt battery attached to a 1.5-inch square of steel wool will not generate enough heat to ignite Black Powder," Phillips concluded.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones scrambled to defend the case, claiming one powder sample "sizzled, produced flying burning embers, and sustained a flame" during testing.
Two FBI agents who worked the case in 2021 tell a different story.
A federal explosives expert briefed them in January 2021 that the devices were "inert."
One former agent said the bombs "just looked good" but couldn't explode.
The FBI spent five years calling them viable when their own experts knew better.
Cole's Car Blows Up the Timeline
The FBI says Cole parked his 2017 blue Nissan Sentra near Folger Park before walking to plant the first bomb at 7:54 p.m. on January 5.
Capitol Police cameras caught a Nissan matching Cole's vehicle driving north on 3rd Street SW at 8:03 p.m.—more than a mile from Folger Park.
Cole couldn't be on foot near Folger Park and driving his car on 3rd Street at the same time.
An independent investigator going by "Armitas" found the footage after digging through dozens of Capitol Police camera feeds.
The vehicle matched Cole's Sentra perfectly—same wheels, same body style, every feature identical.
Security cameras never caught Cole's vehicle entering the section of D Street near Folger Park where the FBI claims he parked.
To get there from Interstate 395 without being seen, Cole would have needed a map of every camera location.
The FBI says Cole used Google Maps to find the DNC and RNC, meaning he wasn't familiar with the area.
But the bomb suspect on security footage moves like someone who ran reconnaissance missions.
The suspect took the longest route to the DNC, made a U-turn before reaching it, then sat at the destination.
That's not someone using Google Maps for the first time.
Secret Service Acted Like Bombs Were Props
Kamala Harris's motorcade drove within feet of the DNC pipe bomb at 11:25 a.m. on January 6.
Ten Secret Service agents and two bomb-sniffing dogs walked past the device that morning without finding it.
One agent sat posted near the garage entrance for five hours before a plainclothes Capitol Police officer finally discovered the bomb at 1:05 p.m.
Secret Service took nearly two and a half minutes to get out of their vehicles after being told about the bomb.
Pedestrians kept strolling past.
More than 40 vehicles drove by.
Harris wasn't evacuated for 11 minutes.
A senior D.C. law enforcement official called this "stupidity" if the bombs were real.
Pipe bomb shrapnel travels at 18,000 to 23,000 feet per second.
"By the time you hear the boom, the shrapnel is going to be hitting you," the official told The Epoch Times.
The FBI didn't evacuate Cole's neighbors when agents arrested him on December 4.
Standard protocol requires evacuation of 70 feet minimum when finding bomb-making materials.
An elderly couple next door couldn't leave during the operation.
The husband missed his doctor's appointment.
The Five-Year Cover-Up
The FBI empaneled a "red team" in October 2025 that identified Cole within six weeks.
Attorney General Pam Bondi credited the Trump Administration with solving a case that "languished for four years" under Biden.
An FBI whistleblower who lives near Cole said physical surveillance only began around November 13, 2025.
The FBI identified 186 phone numbers of interest in February 2021.
Fifty-one belonged to law enforcement or people on an "exclusion list" who were never investigated.
Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent John Nantz testified it was "likely" the FBI knew Cole's identity in February 2021.
Four years ago.
The January 6 Select Committee Nancy Pelosi created barely mentioned the pipe bombs.
"Pipe bomb" appeared five times in their 845-page report.
"President Trump" got mentioned 1,901 times.
They weren't interested in finding who planted bombs that nearly killed Harris and Pelosi.
They wanted to destroy Trump.
The FBI spent five years lying about "viable bombs" while Secret Service agents stood around as Harris's motorcade drove past a device that supposedly could have killed her.
Cole's car was a mile away when he was supposedly planting bombs on foot.
Expert analysis shows the devices couldn't explode.
And the FBI knew Cole's identity four years ago but waited until Trump put Kash Patel in charge to make an arrest.
The Trump Administration says this case got solved through "good, diligent police work."
The evidence says the FBI either manufactured a prosecution against an autistic man who built fake bombs or protected the real bomber for four years while using January 6 as a weapon against Trump supporters.
Neither answer makes the FBI look good.
Sources:
- Joseph M. Hanneman and Steve Baker, "Brian Cole Jr.'s location just the latest snag in the DOJ's evolving Jan. 6 pipe-bomb narrative," Blaze Media, February 6, 2026.
- Joseph M. Hanneman, "Jan. 6 pipe devices were not bombs, could not have exploded, defense expert contends," Blaze Media, January 2026.
- Barry Loudermilk and Thomas Massie, "Four Years Later: Examining the State of the Investigation into the RNC and DNC Pipe Bombs," House Committee on Administration, January 2025.
- Carol Leonnig, "What led the FBI to the man accused of placing pipe bombs in D.C.," PBS News, December 5, 2025.
- Katherine Faulders et al., "Suspect arrested in Jan. 6 pipe bomb case," ABC News, December 5, 2025.
