Suspect confessed he planted 6 Jan pipe bombs, prosecutors say

The man charged with planting pipe bombs in Washington, DC, the night before the 6 January 2021 riot on Capitol Hill has confessed that he assembled and placed the two improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to a new court filing.

Brian Cole Jr, 30, told federal agents that he planted the bombs outside the national headquarters for the Republican and Democratic parties, prosecutors said in the filing released on Sunday.

Mr Cole, who has not entered a plea, supposedly told agents that "something just snapped" in him after "watching everything, just everything getting worse".

He denied his actions were connected to Congress certifying the 2020 election results, which inspired the riot.

Mr Cole told agents, according to the filing, that someone needed to "speak up" for the people who "feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with".

He added that "the people up top," including "people on both sides, public figures", should not ignore people's grievances or call them "conspiracy theorists", "bad people", "Nazis", or "fascists", the filing said.

Still, Mr Cole said he "has never really been an openly political person", according to the filing.

Mr Cole was first arrested on 4 December and charged with use of an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, capping a five-year investigation that the Trump administration said had gone cold.

Law enforcement had discovered the bombs , which never detonated, amid the violent demonstrations aimed at stopping Congress from certifying that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. But there was never a clear link to the protests, and a possible motive - or culprit - for the crime remained a mystery.

In the latest filing, prosecutors said that after Mr Cole was arrested, he initially denied being involved in planting the explosives. But following hours of interrogation, he eventually put his head down on the table and said "yes" he was behind the bombs.

When asked why he placed them outside the parties' headquarters, Mr Cole responded, according to the filing: "I really don't like either party at this point".

He added that he got the idea from his interest in history, specifically The Troubles in Ireland, the filing said

Mr Cole also told agents that after months of buying bomb components and learning how to assemble them from YouTube videos and video games, he did not test the devices before planting them, prosecutors said.

He was "pretty relieved" they did not explode because he "didn't want to kill people", according to the filing.

"Ultimately, it was luck, not lack of effort, that the defendant failed to detonate one or both of his devices and that no one was killed or maimed due to his actions," prosecutors wrote.

But, they added: "His failure to accomplish his objectives does not mitigate the profoundly dangerous nature of his crimes."

Prosecutors say they have "overwhelming evidence" of Mr Cole's guilt, including credit card purchases of bomb-making materials, and bomb components found in his home. Mr Cole also wiped his personal cellphone nearly a thousand times in the five years since the planned attack, they have said.

The BBC has reached out to Mr Cole's lawyer for comment. Mr Cole has not yet entered a plea.