Democrats spent years pushing the narrative that the January 6 pipe bomber was a MAGA extremist, but they are about to face an inconvenient truth. Brian Cole Jr. doesn’t fit their narrative.
Cole was arrested earlier this month for planting two pipe bombs near the DNC and RNC headquarters on the night of Jan. 5, 2021. Cole faces two federal felonies: transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with intent to kill, injure, intimidate, or damage property, and malicious destruction or attempted destruction of property by fire and explosives. Cole’s detention hearing is expected to take place on Tuesday. Ahead of that detention hearing, the DOJ filed a memorandum in support of Cole’s pre-trial detention.
Ahead of that hearing, the Trump Justice Department filed a 23-page detention memo that lays out Cole’s own words about why he did what he did. And those words don’t match the conspiracy theory that the left wanted to blame.
Cole told investigators he followed the 2020 election controversy on YouTube and Reddit after things “started happening” and felt “bewildered” by what he saw. But it wasn’t just one side that captured his attention. He believed that both major parties were ignoring legitimate concerns from voters who felt something was wrong. The real trigger? How both parties were dismissing and labeling those concerns.
“I really don’t like either party at this point,” Cole told agents when they asked him why he targeted both the RNC and DNC.
He wasn’t some Trump cultist. He was angry at everyone in charge.
During his initial video interview, Cole denied everything at first. He claimed he drove his Nissan Sentra to D.C. alone to attend a protest. “I didn’t agree with what people were doing, like just telling half the country that they – that their – that they just need to ignore it. I didn’t think that was a good idea, so I went to the protest,” he said. He insisted he’s “never really been an openly political person” and avoids political talk with family to prevent conflict.
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But after agents confronted him with surveillance footage, Cole admitted the truth. He said that he assembled the devices in the hours before driving to D.C. on January 5. He cleaned them with disinfectant wipes. He didn’t go to attend a protest. He went specifically to plant bombs.
He admitted he never tested the devices beforehand. When he learned later they didn’t detonate, he was “pretty relieved.” He planted them at night, he said, because he didn’t want to kill people. He claimed he was barely thinking about how people would react when the bombs went off, though he hoped for news coverage.
Cole told investigators “something just snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse.” He wanted to “do something ‘to the parties’ because ‘they were in charge.'” His inspiration? The Troubles in Ireland. He denied that his actions targeted Congress or were related to the January 6 proceedings. In fact, the bombs had hour-long timers, so they weren’t even supposed to go off on January 6.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Cole felt that “the people up top” on “both sides” shouldn’t ignore grievances or label concerned citizens as “conspiracy theorists,” “bad people,” “Nazis,” or “fascists.” If people believe their votes are being nullified, “at the very least someone should address it,” he said. When something as important as voting seems tampered with, “someone needs to speak up.”
We’ve previously reported that the media was quick to jump on claims that Cole was a MAGA extremist, and that they knew that it was wrong but reported it anyway. But now we have Cole’s own words to prove they were wrong. And the left can’t be happy about it.
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