US judge orders DC pipe bomber to remain in custody ahead of trial

Suspect Brian Cole confessed to planting bomb, parroting Trump’s false claims 2020 election was stolen.Published On 2 Jan 2026A federal judge in the United States has refused the pre-trial 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.On Friday, Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ruled that 30-year-old Brian Cole 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.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Who is Brian Cole, arrested for planting pipe bombs in Washington in 2021?list 2 of 3Authorities arrest man suspected of planting pipe bombs in Washington, DClist 3 of 3Turtle Island Liberation Front quartet charged for California NYE bomb plotend of listDepartment of Justice prosecutors say Cole confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters only hours before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results.According to prosecutors, Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and “hoped there would be news about it”.“Mercifully, that did not happen,” Judge Sharbaugh wrote in the order.“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.Trump and his allies had spent months baselessly claiming the 202 vote was marred by widespread fraud, a position he has maintained since his election victory in 2024.