Jeanine Pirro Got Curiously Silent about What Brian Cole Did on December 14, 2020
DOJ has submitted its detention memo for accused January 6 pipe bomber Brian Cole.
It largely tracks his arrest affidavit, only includes nifty maps and tables to show how his cell phone movement and his purchases showed his actions in preparation for and laying the pipe bombs.
It also includes details of his Mirandized, videotaped confession.
The description of his motive confirms he was a Trump supporter, but then explains he just planted the pipe bombs at both the DNC and RNC because he hated both parties — it had nothing to do with January 6, the filing claims (without quoting him).
The defendant stated that he does not align politically with his family members and did not tell them that he “was going to a protest in support of [then President] Trump.”
[snip]
When the interviewing agents returned to the defendant’s motive, he explained that “something just snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse.” The defendant wanted to do something “to the parties” because “they were in charge.” When asked why he placed the devices at the RNC and DNC, the defendant responded, “I really don’t like either party at this point.” The defendant also explained that the idea to use pipe bombs came from his interest in history, specifically the Troubles in Ireland. The defendant denied that his actions were directed toward Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6.
But there are two holes in the detention affidavit.
First, it describes Cole taught himself how to make explosives from YouTube, and used Google Maps to decide where to plant the bombs.
According to the defendant, he learned to make the black powder from a video game that listed the ingredients, and he also viewed various science-related videos on YouTube to assist him in creating the devices.
[snip]
The defendant explained that he had used Google Maps to look up these locations in advance.
Both of those details should show up in a Google warrant.
The detention memo makes no mention of them (or of any Google warrant).
More stunning, the detention affidavit drops a key detail from the arrest affidavit: That he was on Capitol Hill on December 14, 2020.
The FBI has analyzed COLE’s purchase history associated with the Accounts. Between January 2018 and January 2021, COLE made a total of five purchases within Washington, D.C. on or about the following dates: January 13, 2018; January 16, 2018; October 31, 2019; December 5, 2020; and December 14, 2020.
Approximately three weeks before the pipe bombs were placed, on or about December 14, 2020, COLE made a purchase at a restaurant located near First and D Streets, Southeast. The restaurant is located across the street from the entrance to Rumsey Court on D Street, Southeast.
What the detention affidavit does reveal is that — starting on December 15, 2020 — the day after being on Capitol Hill and a full three weeks before planting the pipe bombs, Cole started factory resetting his phone.
A Samsung cellular device was seized from the defendant’s person at the time of his arrest. A forensic review of the device’s contents showed that between December 2020 and December 2025, the device recorded 943 events identified as a “factory reset” or “wipe,” including a “wipe” event approximately three hours before the defendant’s arrest on December 4, 2025.2
2 The first “factory reset” or “wipe” event took place on December 15, 2020. The next such event did not occur until July 15, 2022. From that date, the “factory reset” or “wipe” events occurred at least once a week. On some days, the device appears to have been wiped multiple times in the same day.
The alleged pipe bomber started exercising operational security the day after that trip to Capitol Hill, the scene of his alleged crime.
And now, Jeanine Pirro doesn’t want to talk about the trip he made there at all.
Update: Cole’s attorneys complain that DOJ is attempting to push his first appearance out to January 7 or 8, which would be past any 5-year statute of limitation (though his charged crimes have a longer 10-plus year statute of limtiation).
2. On December 28, 2025, when pressed on the question of proceeding with the preliminary hearing on December 30, the government asked to push the preliminary hearing to either January 7 or 8. That request comes too late and does not meet Rule 5.1(d)’s rigorous standard. The Court should confirm that December 30 is the preliminary hearing and detention hearing and direct the government to be prepared to present its evidence in support of probable cause.
[snip]
4. In its email to defense counsel, the government has identified no extraordinary circumstances; rather, the reasons referenced are ordinary scheduling matters and the possibility of a forthcoming indictment. Rule 5 “does not allow the [preliminary] hearing date” to be extended merely “to accommodate the pace of the grand jury investigation.” United States v. Gurary, 793 F.2d 468, 472 (2d Cir. 1986). And where the defendant does not consent—as he does not here—Rule 5.1(d) imposes “far more rigorous criteria” than the Speedy Trial Act’s ends-of-justice standard. Id. at 473; see also United States v. Fortenberry, 2014 WL 6969615, at *2 (D. Nev. Dec. 9, 2014) (“Rule 5.1 does not permit continuance solely to enable the government to avoid a preliminary hearing by securing an indictment.”) (citation omitted).
Update: This is a super minor point. But in the detention memo, DOJ quotes Cole as saying (this month), “I really don’t like either party at this point,” which is at least consistent with him having been a Trump supporter and souring on him.
A few paragraphs later, they change the tense of that, claiming he placed that opinion in 2020.
In his own words, the defendant did so because he did not “like either party,” but “they were in charge” and thus were, in the defendant’s mind, an appropriate target for extreme acts of violence.
And they turn it into a both-sides thing.
By his own admission, the defendant committed these chilling acts because he was unhappy with the response of political leaders on both sides of the political aisle to questions raised about the results of the 2020 election, and “something just snapped.” [my emphasis throughout]
It may well be that something about what Cole said makes it fair to put his animosity to both parties back in time to 2020, but that’s not the tense he used.
Additionally, this is the table DOJ uses to claim they found purchase records for all the components he used to make the bombs.
But this is misleading. While the table includes Lilly Miller sulfur dust, one of the things he said he used to make black powder (and charcoal, another, would be readily on hand), that’s actually a purchase 14 months earlier than any other component, and from a different store. But they didn’t find a purchase record for the potassium nitrate, which they say he said he got at Lowes (from which they have a bunch of other purchase records).
Having a phone on and with him was an opsec fail of the highest order. How un-savvy does one have to be to be ignorant of cell tower geolocation? For half the Bubbas at the capital, sure, but it’s an odd bit of ignorance for him. Not that this pertains his guilt or motive but it is something that make me go, hmmmmm.
Wonder why the next wipe has on July 15, 2022. Maybe it might be due to this headline: “Secret Service Text Messages Around Jan. 6 Were Erased, Inspector General Says” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/us/politics/secret-service-text-messages-jan-6.html
He kept buying bomb-making equipment until August 2022. So it could be he had another meeting.
And imagine if someone at the FBI warned him he was going to be arrested and called him (on Signal) that date.
Imagine there’s a minder,
It isn’t hard to do.
Someone to set his timing
And to help him follow through
Imagine all the Proud Boys
Hoping for the blasts!
You may say he was a schemer,
That he was the only one.
But the dots are not connecting
And Pirro’s just gone schtum.
Proud Boys were indicted in July 2022. Coincidence, a result of the first and prominent Jan6th terrorism trial, or mutual connection warning him? By “mutual connection,” I would imagine that there’s a witness to the conversation if the tattoo of Richard Nixon could talk…
Stone cold silence is all that’s forthcoming from that graven image.
has = was ?
How’s that Dec 14, 2020 date fit with the date when Trump & team started planning the insurrection in White House meetings for real?
Does the defendent have any documented ties with the coup leaders?
Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio posted pics from a White House visit the morning of December 12, 2020. I don’t know what date they were taken, all of the articles I’ve seen mention the date he posted them, not when he took them.
I wonder if bomb suspect Brian Cole is on “ suicide” watch.
A euphemism for a “to be suicided” list?
Ok, so he says that he went home that night. I had wondered. But I remain curious whether he will turn up in any other J6-related (including D12) video.
There is much to be confused about. What really has me scratching my head is that he made his own black powder. Why?
In most states, you can walk into a sporting goods store and buy 1 pound cans of black powder (Goex is one type) right off the shelf, and there aren’t any forms to be filled out, whatsoever. The ATF doesn’t track this, because black powder rifles and pistols are not considered firearms, though the maximum amount of powder in an individual’s possession is limited to 50 lbs (!!!!). Muzzle loading, black powder rifle hunting seasons are part of many state’s regular big game seasons.
And that is why making black powder is a really, really weird thing. It is almost as if the guy, to use an old term, was ‘snookered’ into this.
Thanks. Did not know that, but the “how’d he get the powder” is another potential hole in this narrative.
More on explosives. First, how (DOJ claims he claims) he made the black powder:
Why would you buy potassium nitrate rather than simply buy black powder?
And there’s no record of him buying potassium nitrate from Lowes, though they describe him buying wires possibly used in the pipe bombs there in November 2020.
He also made potassium chlorate after January 6.
Depending on who was looking and when, various sources for making explosives and other sabotage were available on the Internet. Decades ago, a popular example was what used to be called a “kitchen explosives” manual.
It had recipes for making everything from black powder to plastic explosives. It critiqued various uses, risks, and ease or difficulty in buying or making necessary ingredients. The author(s) had more than high school-level chemistry.
More generally, there’s still the KUBARK manual (1963), which has been available since 1997. It deals with interrogation techniques, and could be used to prepare defenses to them. A 1944 manual from the OSS, Simple Sabotage, deals with various forms of passive and active resistance to an occupying force. No doubt, documents exist from Project Gladio and others. And that ignores what might be available on the darknet.
Absolutely correct on black powder
Not really disagreeing, but it could be that a) he did not know that, or b) he was afraid he’d be picked up on a store security camera buying black powder. Alternative a) represents a substantial failure of internet search capability on his part. Not sure why he’d be worried about alternative b), given that many people buy black powder, but maybe just overcautiousness… or, as you suggest, he wasn’t really on his own.
So he paid a restaurant bill on 14th December and started to reset his phone on 15th. How many people was the bill for I wonder?
Or did he have Signal chats arranging the meeting?
One can get an idea from the bill’s details (number of entrees, drinks, etc.) how many were there for the meal. The Signal data would provide some names, but I’d be surprised if Roger Stone or the PBs were not represented.
I read an early article w/comments from neighbors that suggested he might be autistic or on the spectrum due to his social skills. Another said they knew him as “guy who walks chihuahua” and that he would wear shorts in dead of winter.
He works for his father and has never worked anywhere else. Dad is bail bondsman.
If there’s neurodivergence it would explain why his actions don’t fit a logical or typical pattern.
Can’t find original article.
The recently corrupted DOJ has been curiously silent on this arrest. I have not seen any reporting recently.
I guess it all seems too pat. Despite all the ways in which this guy seems to be a lone wolf, can it really be a happenstance that he planted the bombs on the eve of January 6? He “snapped” and favored Trump, but he had no connection with others in the conspiracy involved with the riots?
What struck me most at the time was that the pipe bombs – and not one but both – were found just in time. That makes me think the perpetrator was not a complete lone wolf.
That’s one reason why I think the low-energy pipe bombs were a red herring designed to distract attention away from the main event on J6.
The pleading is signed by Charles R. Jones, D.C. Attorney No. 1035541, signed the pleading. I think it’s important to name and shame the people signing these pleadings.
Why care about 5-year statute of limitation when his charged crimes have a 10-plus year statute of limitation?
Because some other potential crimes, especially of a co-conspirator, might not.
I like a theory that posits a conspiracy between Cole and someone connected to the White House and a DoJ cover up of such a conspiracy now that Cole has been arrested, but why arrest him in the first place? He’s been out of sight for years with many thinking he’d gotten away with the bomb drops. All of a sudden they arrest him and hide evidence they wouldn’t have needed to find if they’d just left him alone. I guess a bigger question revolves around who we can and can’t trust from the top of DoJ down to the bottom. The answer, I presume, is that some are doing their jobs and some are hindering those jobs from being done. Not conducive to trust in or outside of the organization.
I’ve wondered similarly and suspect with no information that the DOJ and FBI are so massive not every honest person can be eliminated.
My bet is when Kash and cronies heard the evidence had been deciphered and a suspect located, they were desperate for something to make them look even marginally competent. They saw this as their chance to make a big arrest and crow on TV about “catching the guy Biden’s FBI couldn’t find,” and couldn’t resist. So they had him arrested and started calling the press for their big moment. Things didn’t get awkward until they found out he was a Trumper, and suddenly the entire case became an instructive exercise in minimizing a conviction while maximizing evidence camouflage and blowback avoidance.
To make following along even more fun, imagine that DOJ does know who he had lunch with on 12/14, but don’t want to bring that day up because Trump already mass-pardoned them.
My highest regards and gratitude to Dr. Wheeler and the community here. May the new year treat you all gently.
There is an interesting detail that begins in the 2nd sentence on p.1 of the pretrial detention document that is consistent throughout it. When describing where the pipe bombs were located, the document lists the RNC first and the DNC second.
But that is neither alphabetically nor temporally logical. The DNC bomb was planted first. So who decided to mention the RNC first, and why?
The other question I have is why doesn’t Brian Cole associate Trump with the Republican Party? He admits to being a Trump supporter, but he has anger issues about both parties. Why? What and who specifically caused him to come to these conclusions? Where did he get this information?
He expresses concern about votes not being counted and thinks having that concern should not stereotype people as fascists or Nazis. And he mentions reading things on Reddit.
Did he also make comments on Reddit? Did he converse with any particular people on Reddit? And did he interact with relevant people at work? Are there records of receipts for those people? Is there video from his worksite? Did es he have anger issues with family members? Are some Republicans?
See my update about the way they misrepresent the tense of his comment about both parties. That was said, in present tense about “this point” in time, this month. As presented it is not a description of his opinion in 2020.
There’s a WHOLE SLEW of Jan6ers who’ve soured on Trump.
Also, remember my point about his arrest affidavit. Almost every single other Jan6 affidavit includes descriptions of what they were doing on social media. It is at least conceivable that his activities on YouTube, at least, would be preserved. We get none of that.
Thanks, Marcy. Can’t keep up with you!
Another reason that I have such concerns about Susie Wiles is because of very specific risk management issues that I have never mentioned here. Nor will I now. But they got disappeared by similar obfuscations that are happening here with Brian Cole.
So was Google served a warrant? If so, would they readily comply? Will this detail come out at some point?
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Resetting his phone appears to be something temporally linked to his crime, thus each time would reset the statute of limitations.
Just a thought about the pipe bomber “don’t like ” vs. “didn’t like” either party. I spent a bunch of time playing disinfo whack a mole on social media before the election and for at least a month after J6, and one thing I came to realize was that a very large portion of the Stop the Steal Maga movement was anti both parties. They had a strong sense of a collective new party. They easily called everyone else RINO’s. Regardless of tense, not liking either party seems like evidence that he was completely there to support Trump.
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I have to disagree with some of the theorizing upthread about Mr. Cole being part of some sort of grandiose conspiracy. From press accounts, Cole is a very shy and retiring young man, possibly on the autism spectrum. He apparently was living with his parents on January 6th, 2021 and was still living with them when he was arrested in 2025. He works for the dads bond business. Making his own black powder is a bit strange but I would guess he did it to avoid being caught on CCTV buying gunpowder, which shows some self-awareness. He clearly was under the sway of Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election being stolen and that was the predicate cause for him building the bombs in the first place. Placing the bombs outside both the RNC and DNC headquarters made little sense, but he was and is a very troubled young man and he said he really didn’t want to hurt anyone. He certainly doesn’t fit the ANTIFA model, Jeanine Pirro was hoping for!
The “theorizing” was more oriented toward whether someone in Trump’s orbit chose Cole as a patsy.
In line with the DOJ being preoccupied with some old scores to settle.
Democracy Docket: DOJ Organizing Vast Conspiracy Investigation Against Trump Enemies, Bondi Says
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/attorney-general-pam-bondi-conspiracy-investigation-trump-enemies/
The Felon Guy’s rights don’t include consequence-free criming, no matter what Bondi and SDFL want to believe. He’s broken a lot of laws, as well as violating the Constitution by claiming to have powers it doesn’t give him.
Sounds like this guy was a Star Trek fan and watched the episode, Arena, on rewind. Maybe the FBI should check his browser history or his VHS tape collection.
Off-topic but perhaps of interest to folks here. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has thwarted yet another attempt by the DOJ to search Richman’s stuff. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.287269/gov.uscourts.dcd.287269.41.0.pdf
Pithy, almost humorous, order from the court, if a little too indulgent of the DoJ.
There will shortly come a time when the courts will have to take the gloves off, regarding DoJ’s unwillingness to comply with valid court orders.
Lawyers disagree with court orders every day. The correct response is to comply, while seeking to change those orders through appeal to a higher court or a request to the issuing court to modify them. Trump-Bondi’s DoJ is more interested in baiting judges into overreacting. Their project is to delay, not win, and to create widespread disregard for the courts.