A hoodie-clad figure planted two pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican headquarters on the evening before the Capitol riot. Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris came within 20 feet of one device. The bombs never exploded—a matter of luck, prosecutors say, not design. For nearly five years, the FBI's most intensive manhunt since 9/11 turned up nothing.
A hoodie-clad figure planted two pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican headquarters on the evening before the Capitol riot. Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris came within 20 feet of one device. The bombs never exploded—a matter of luck, prosecutors say, not design. For nearly five years, the FBI's most intensive manhunt since 9/11 turned up nothing.
On December 4, 2025, agents arrested Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old bail bondsman from Woodbridge, Virginia, who allegedly confessed after initially denying involvement. Now the case faces an unexpected legal obstacle: prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment from D.C. Superior Court rather than federal court, triggering a jurisdictional dispute currently under appeal. Judge Sharbaugh has postponed accepting the indictment and deciding Cole's detention status while the appellate court resolves whether local grand juries can charge federal crimes—a procedural question that could determine how hundreds of cases proceed in the nation's capital.
