Brian J. Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges accusing him of planting two pipe bombs outside the national headquarters of both major political parties on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Cole entered the plea at a brief hearing. He faces two counts of transporting and attempting to use explosives.
The pipe bombs, placed outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee buildings on Capitol Hill, were discovered on the same day a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol — linking Cole’s case to one of the most scrutinized episodes in the broader Jan. 6 legal reckoning.
Justice Department prosecutors said Cole confessed to placing the devices outside RNC and DNC headquarters only hours before the Capitol assault. Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and “hoped there would be news about it,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Following his arrest last month, Cole told investigators he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was stolen, according to prosecutors. He said he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” prosecutors said.
If convicted of both counts, Cole faces up to 10 years in prison on one charge and up to 20 years on the second, which also carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.