BREAKING UPDATE: FBI arrests 'anarchist' Brian Cole as suspect in J6 RNC, DNC pipe bomb investigation

After nearly five years, the FBI has reportedly arrested a suspect in its investigation into the January 2021 planting of pipe bombs outside both the Republican and Democrat party headquarters in Washington, DC. The arrested suspect has been identified as Brian Cole, sources told the New York Post. 

An FBI official told NBC News that the arrest was made on Thursday morning, which will officially be announced by officials later in the day at a news conference. The suspect is reportedly a man who was living in Virginia. According to MSNOW, while a motive has not yet been determined by authorities, two people briefed on the arrest said that the suspect has been linked to statements supporting anarchist ideology. 

The FBI had sought help from the public for years for information that could lead to the arrest of a suspect. Officials have described the suspect as being around 5 feet, 7 inches tall, and wearing Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a gold logo at the time. In 2023, the bureau raised the reward for information that led to an arrest from $100,000 to $500,000.

Authorities discovered two pipe bombs that had been placed near the Republican and Democratic National Committees’ headquarters in Washington, DC on January 6, around the same time as the events at the Capitol. Video footage revealed that an unidentified person planted the pipe bombs near the two headquarters around 16 hours before they were discovered by law enforcement. 

The FBI released additional footage in October, showing the suspect’s movements between 7:30 and 8:30 pm in DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The suspect was first spotted near 1st Street and North Carolina Avenue SE at 7:34 pm, later stopping along South Capitol Street to set down one backpack believed to contain a bomb. 

Around 7:54 pm, the suspect was filmed sitting on a bench outside the DNC headquarters and placing what investigators believe was the first device. At 8:16 pm, the suspect planted a second bomb near the RNC headquarters before disappearing from view.