A 30-year-old Virginia man accused of planting pipe bombs near Capitol Hill on the eve of the January 6, 2021 riots is an autistic recluse with no political affiliations, his grandmother has told the Daily Mail.
Family Portrait of a Suspect
Brian Cole was arrested on Thursday, 4 December 2025, after a major FBI operation involving SWAT teams raided his home in Woodbridge, Virginia. His grandmother, Loretta, described him as a 'borderline autistic' 'computer nerd' who lives in his mother's basement, works a data entry job for the family bail bonds business, and has been grieving the loss of his pet chihuahua.
"He's not politically affiliated with anything," she insisted in an interview. "He has no social media contacts. He's never online going back and forth with politics... He says he don't like either party." She added that Cole, whom she said has "the mind of a 16-year-old," never votes.
This family account contrasts with reports from MSNOW, which cited unnamed sources claiming Cole confessed to FBI interrogators that he is a Trump supporter who holds anarchist views.
The Five-Year Investigation and Arrest
Cole's arrest marks the first significant breakthrough in an investigation that had baffled the FBI for nearly five years. The agency had offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's identification.
Authorities allege that on the night of 5 January 2021, Cole placed two explosive devices outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees in Washington D.C. Surveillance footage showed a hooded suspect placing a backpack near the DNC at 7:54pm and another at the RNC at 8:16pm. The bombs, made of threaded galvanized pipes, kitchen timers, and homemade black powder, were discovered and safely disabled the following day.
Sources suggest Cole's arrest may cause embarrassment for the FBI, as it reportedly came from a review of existing evidence collected in 2021 and 2022, not a new lead. The agency had possessed the information needed to make an arrest for years.
A Family in Disbelief and Defence
Loretta expressed terror and disbelief at the charges. "We're terrified," she said. "They say they've got all this evidence. Whatever happened, we've still got to fight it."
She portrayed her grandson as a calm, quiet man who keeps to himself. "He's a good kid," she argued. "If you knew him, you would say that he couldn't have done it. And if he did, it was just him trying to prove a point or whatever. He probably doesn't even know the magnitude of what he's done."
She revealed that a message was passed to Cole during his arraignment on Friday, stating he was most upset about disappointing his family. The grandmother claimed to have no knowledge of him gathering bomb parts over months or storing them in the home.
The devices were planted hours before hordes of Trump supporters descended on Washington D.C. to protest the 2020 election results, culminating in the infamous storming of the US Capitol. The pipe bomb investigation has remained a persistent and high-profile mystery within the broader events of that day.
