30-year-year-old bail bondsman Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, has been accused of planting pipe bombs outside US Capitol on eve of January 6 riots

Cole Jr, 30, is facing charges of transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials. 

He was identified as the suspect on Thursday morning, weeks after the FBI offered a $500,000 reward for leads to identify the suspect

Cole allegedly, told FBI investigators he believed Donald Trump should have won that White House race, not Joe Biden – a possible motive for the bomb threats targeting the RNC and DNC headquarters

Authorities shared previously unreleased footage of the perp stalking the streets of Washington DC on Jan. 5 2021, the night before the riots 

Arrest marks first major breakthrough in five-year investigation that had baffled the agency and sparked a wave of conspiracy theories 

However, it’s alleged that FBI’s case against the suspect is not based on a new breakthrough, but a review the FBI conducted in recent weeks of evidence previously gathered

Brian Cole Jr., [photo], 30, was identified by the FBI on Thursday as the suspect in the planned attacks on DC on Jan 6, 2021. He is facing charges of transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials

The FBI Thursday arrested a Virginia man. in connection with several pipe bombs laid near Capitol Hill on the eve of the January 6, 2021 riots. 
Brian Cole Jr. who was named as the suspect on Thursday morning, has been charged with laying explosives outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters, which did not detonate. 
This arrest marks the first major breakthrough in the five-year investigation that had baffled the agency and sparked a wave of conspiracy theories. 
30-year-old Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, allegedly, told FBI investigators he believed Donald Trump should have won that White House race, not Joe Biden, the first indication of a possible motive for the bomb threats targeting the RNC and DNC headquarters on January 5, 2021.
FBI investigators reportedly spent hours interviewing Cole who has yet to enter a plea, but is set to appear in court today. He is facing charges of transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials. 

Brian Cole Jr. was arrested when FBI agents raided the house in Woodbridge, Virginia, where the bail bondsman lives with his mother on Thursday Dec. 4

FBI Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect accused of laying pipe bombs near the Capitol on the eve of the January 6, 2021 riots. The suspect identified as Virginia resident, Brian Cole, has been charged with laying explosives outside the DNC and RNC National Committee headquarters in DC 

Cole who according to an arrest affidavit lived at home with his mother and worked as a bail bondsman was arrested Thursday when SWAT teams in camouflage and carrying rifles raided the home in Woodbridge. 
The arrest comes weeks after the FBI offered a $500,000 reward for leads to identify the suspect, when authorities shared previously unreleased footage of the perp stalking the streets of Washington DC the night before the infamous riots. 
However, the arrest reportedly, was not the result of a new breakthrough in the investigation. Rather it is a fallout of a recently conducted a review by the FBI, of existing evidence it had collected in 2021 and 2022. 
Law enforcement sources said that the arrest may cause embarrassment for the FBI because the suspect could have been arrested years ago if investigators had pieced together existing evidence. 

“Although these bombs did not detonate, the suspect walked along residential and commercial areas in Capitol Hill just blocks from the US Capitol with viable pipe bombs that could have seriously injured or killed innocent bystanders” – Feds

The breakthrough in the five-yearlong investigation happened shortly after feds posted a $500,000 bounty for leads helping to identify those behind explosive devices planted at the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington DC 

Officials said that one device was placed in an alley behind the headquarters of the RNC on First Street, SE DC. The second device was placed next to a park bench near the DNC headquarters on South Capitol Street SE.
In the surveillance footage from the plot, video showed the hooded suspect setting down a backpack on South Capitol Street, before putting on glasses and scanning their surroundings for witnesses and walking off. 
The suspect then walked to the nearby DNC headquarters, where a bomb was placed at 7:54pm. 
Surveillance then showed the suspect walking to the RNC headquarters and placing a bomb at 8:16pm, and he was last seen on video two minutes later.
The bomb planting suspect wore a face mask, glasses, a grey hooded sweatshirt, gloves, and black and light grey Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo. 

The suspect seen in the surveillance footage wore black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo

FBI said the home made explosive devices [photo], constructed from threaded galvanized pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder, were viable devices that could have maimed or killed innocent members of the public 

The suspect placed pipe bombs in a Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee on Jan. 5, 2021, between approximately 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. the night before the Capitol riot. 
The explosive devices planted outside the two buildings in the Capitol Hill neighborhood were located the next day, just hours before hordes of Donald Trump supporters descended on Washington DC to protest the 2020 election results. 
The FBI has said the pipe bombs, which were discovered 15 hours after they were placed
US Capitol Police and agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were first called to the RNC’s office at 12.45pm on January 6.
About 30 minutes later, as the agents and bomb technicians were still investigating at the RNC, another call came in for a similar explosive device found at the DNC headquarters nearby.
The bombs were rendered safe, and no one was hurt.
According to the FBI these were viable devices – real bombs that could have seriously injured or killed innocent bystanders. Some investigators theorized that the bombs were placed to divert law enforcement from responding to the attack on the Capitol.  

The FBI’s case against the suspect sources revealed, is not based on a new breakthrough, but on a review the FBI conducted in recent weeks of evidence previously gathered

Approximate route pipe bomb suspect walked while planting devices at two locations around the Capitol Hill neighborhood in DC, on January 5, 2021, according to FBI

The homemade bombs were constructed out of threaded galvanized pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder. 
The pipe bomb plot spawned numerous conspiracy theories as the case remained unsolved for years, including last month as conservative social media commentators falsely claimed the FBI had identified a former Capitol Police officer as the suspect. 
The claims said that the female police officer was identified using ‘gait analysis’, and the former officer’s attorney said that the accusations were ‘recklessly false, absurd, and defamatory.’  
The hunt for the suspect was one of the largest in FBI history, and investigators struggled for years to piece together evidence collected in the aftermath of the Capitol riots on January 6.