DC Pipe Bomb Defendant to Be Jailed Until Trial

A federal magistrate judge on Friday declined 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 Jan. 6, 2021. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ruled that Brian Cole Jr. must remain jailed before trial, the AP reports, concluding that there are no conditions of release that can reasonably protect the public from the danger that prosecutors say Cole poses.

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 Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol. According to prosecutors, Cole said that he hoped that the explosives would detonate and that "there would be news about it." Sharbaugh wrote that "if the plan had succeeded," the blast could have created "a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, D.C., 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.