US judge refuses to order release of man charged with planting pipe bombs on eve of Jan. 6 riot

By AP 2 January 2026, 8:56 pm

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This courtroom sketch depicts Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, the man accused of planting a pair of pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties on January 5, 2021, in Washington, DC, being sworn in, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, before US Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya, at Federal Court in Washington, as US Attorney Charles Jones, seated left, and Defense Attorney John Shoreman, seated center, look on. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

A Us federal magistrate refuses to order the pretrial release of a man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh rules that Brian J. Cole Jr. must remain jailed before trial. The magistrate concluded there are no conditions of release that can reasonably protect the public from the danger that Cole allegedly poses.

US Justice Department prosecutors say Cole confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters only hours before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. According to prosecutors, Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and “hoped there would be news about it.”

“Mercifully, that did not happen,” Sharbaugh wrote. “But if the plan had succeeded, the results,” he said, could have been devastating, “creating a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, DC, grievously injuring DNC or RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse.”

After his arrest last month, Cole told investigators that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” according to prosecutors.

If convicted of both charges against him, Cole faces up to 10 years of imprisonment on one charge and up to 20 years of imprisonment on a second charge that also carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.