Unanswered Questions Remain After Arrest in Pipe Bomb Case

While charges against Brian Cole Jr. appear to add one missing piece to the pipe bomb puzzle, additional, and perhaps even more consequential, questions linger.

More details on the life of Brian Cole Jr., the Virginia man arrested last week for allegedly planting pipe bombs in Washington on the evening of January 5, 2021, are coming to light. In what appears to be a leak related to the FBI’s interrogation of Cole last week, the suspect reportedly told agents he believed the 2020 election was stolen—something the media latched on to in its desperation to brand Cole, 30, a supporter of Donald Trump. (His grandmother denied that allegation and insisted her grandson is nonpolitical and is “borderline autistic.”)

The New York Post just disclosed Cole’s weird obsession with “My Little Pony,” the colorful cartoon aimed at young girls. “A man who is part of the My Little Pony a subculture is known as a ‘Brony,’” the Post reported on Tuesday. “The community was, in 2017, large enough to hold annual conventions and experts considered followers sincere in their fandom.”

While the charges against Cole appear to finally identify the individual seen on security footage wearing a hoodie and carrying a backpack in the same vicinity where the devices were later discovered the following day, this now solved mystery does little to answer remaining open questions about both the initial failure of the FBI’s investigation and the circumstances of the discoveries on January 6, 2021.

For example, Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on January 6th, is asking the woman who “found” the device outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee that afternoon to sit for a transcribed interview. Karlin Younger had two contacts with the FBI shortly after Jan. 6 but there is no indication she spoke with agents after Jan. 11, 2021 or with anyone in Congress related to Democrats’ numerous investigations into the Capitol protest.

Loudermilk wants Younger to speak with his committee later this month, calling her “uniquely situated” to provide information about her discovery and interactions with the FBI. Younger, who worked for the federal government at the time, has some explaining to do, as I covered here and here.

Her involvement, however, is just one troubling aspect of the entire pipe bomb saga. The public deserves answers, and quickly, on a list of other questions. No doubt some information must be kept under seal until the trial but as the clock winds down on this session of Congress, time is of the essence:

(1) Cole’s personal profile—a social outcast, interest in a cartoon cult, a family in trouble with the law—fits that of someone targeted by the government to work as an asset. Was Cole a confidential human source (informant) for the FBI or any other agency at the time he allegedly planted the devices?

(2) Why did Cole purchase bomb-making components over the course of more than a year? Was he planning, or directed by a government handler, to do something similar before Jan. 6?

(3) With whom was he communicating on the evening of Jan. 5?

(4) Why did the FBI investigation suddenly grow cold in the spring of 2021 despite a massive trove of evidence and reported leads on a suspect?

(5) Who were the law enforcement officers stationed outside the Democratic National Headquarters throughout the morning and into the afternoon of Jan. 6?

(6) How did multiple police officers from the Capitol Police, D.C. Metropolitan Police, and U.S. Secret Service miss the device sitting in (almost) plain sight next to the driveway of the DNC?

(7) How did two bomb-sniffing canine units miss the device?

(8) Why did Kamala Harris travel to the DNC in the late morning on Jan. 6? Why has she rarely addressed her near-death experience on Jan. 6 at the hands of an alleged MAGA bomber?

(9) Why was a security camera apparently intentionally diverted away from the location where the device was eventually discovered?

(10) Why did a representative of FirstNet, which employed Karlin Younger on Jan. 6, tell the FBI in a Jan. 20, 2021 email that cell phone data for Jan. 5 “was corrupted and cannot be restored,” which appears to be false?

These items represent a short list of headscratchers that both the Trump administration and Congress should address as soon as possible.

Despite the corporate media’s lack of interest in the story—coverage disappeared after Harris’ presence at the DNC that day was revealed—Trump supporters, especially those ensnared by the Biden DOJ’s abusive manhunt for J6ers, want a full accounting of every aspect of the pipe bomb story. They deserve nothing less.

Not everyone is thrilled, however; Democrats appear shaken by the FBI’s arrest of the pipe bomb perp. Virginia Senator Mark Warner feigned relief but then shifted blame to existing leadership for former FBI Director Chris Wray’s four-year failure to wrap the case before he resigned last year:

And CNN’s Jake Tapper is still looking for a white guy: