Brian Cole, Jr., the accused January 6 pipe bomber who planted live bombs at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee the night before January 6 has been arrested by the Justice Department for his crimes after almost five years as the case went cold.
While it is hard to imagine that Cole somehow had foreknowledge that there would be a riot at the U.S. Capitol that day, by that time, he certainly was well aware that President Trump was challenging the 2020 election and would be giving a speech that day protesting the outcome of the 2020 elections.
Now, Cole has reportedly confessed to authorities and is claiming to the FBI that he was a Trump supporter who thought the 2020 elections were stolen and that’s why he did it.
There’s at least one problem with that story. Namely, if he was “challenging” the election’s outcome in 2020, why did Cole start building the bombs in 2019?
According to the Justice Department’s documents charging Cole, “Both pipe bombs were manufactured using ‘end caps,’ which were used to close the ends of the eight-inch pipe. The pipe bombs placed outside the RNC and DNC contained a mix of both black and galvanized end caps. The end caps had markings consistent with Pipe Manufacturer’s product labeling. COLE purchased a total of 12 black end caps and 2 galvanized end caps from four different Home Depots in northern Virginia on or about the following dates: October 22, 2019, and March 10, June 20, July 8, and November 16, 2020.”
Look at those dates. The only date after the election was the final visit to Home Depot in November 2020. Every other visit to buy the end caps used for the bombs occurred before the election.
So, if his “motive” for building bombs was believing the 2020 election was stolen, why was he already building the bombs in late 2019 and early 2020? He was already thinking about it. Did he build a time machine, too?
A more plausible explanation, given the DNC and RNC targets would have been to simply try and start a civil war. This is what an anarchist would do. He certainly took advantage of Trump’s legal challenges to the elections that were taking place at the time in planning the date, but clearly, he was already intent on making bombs even before the election. After the election, the President’s election challenge just happened to be the big controversy at the time — an opportunity for Cole to cause maximum chaos.
No real “supporter” of Trump would blow up the RNC and DNC and then say “Trump made me do it.” That would hurt Trump, not help him. And that’s the point. The election was just an excuse. This was to cause a wider conflict.
Neither the President nor his supporters will ever believe Cole’s story. And neither should you. Sure, plead guilty. Confess. But expect no leniency.
The President argued his case challenging the election in courts and to Congress and then after those arguments failed, power was peacefully transferred on Jan. 20, 2021. At the Jan. 6 rally on the national mall, Trump told his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”. Because if there was violence it would hurt him, them and the country.
It’s a miracle nobody got killed by Cole. As is the case with any radical extremist terrorist, everyone in the civil society should condemn and disavow Cole’s actions. Trump supporter or no, he belongs in jail. The government doesn’t need to prove what he was thinking, or why he did it, just that he did it.
Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
