Republicans Holding On To Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Conspiracy Theory | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON — For years, far-right Republicans have claimed the federal authorities’s failure to catch the Jan. 6 pipe bomber confirmed the entire riot was some kind of “inside job” designed to entrap Donald Trump supporters.

So what did they do when the FBI lastly arrested a suspect, seemingly blowing up their theories? They doubled down.

In response to the arrest of Brian J. Cole, the 30-year-old Virginia man accused of constructing and putting the 2 gadgets, Republicans’ particular committee to rewrite the historical past of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol this week despatched out a contemporary interview request, formally asking the lady who discovered the system close to Republican National Committee headquarters to inform them what she is aware of.

“The way I look at these is we always have a theory. We try to prove that theory false. Then you can move on to something else,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), the chair of the committee, advised HuffPost.

Loudermilk wonders if Cole could have had assist: “Did he have a conspirator on the Hill? Or was it part of a bigger organization?”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who partnered with Loudermilk on an investigation of the pipe bomb case earlier this yr, stated a confidential supply advised him the federal government would possibly even have arrested the mistaken man.

“I had another protected disclosure last night from a whistleblower on this case which leads me to believe they’ve got the wrong guy, or he is being ― he was highly manipulated, if he had anything to do with it,” Massie advised HuffPost on Friday, referring to Cole. “His level of functioning is, I think, lower than is being reported.”

The FBI, the Justice Department and Cole’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Friday.

Citing financial institution data, mobile phone knowledge, license plate scanners and surveillance video, the federal government has stated Cole assembled the 2 pipe bombs from supplies he bought over the course of two years. He then positioned them exterior every social gathering’s headquarters constructing the night earlier than Congress would certify President Donald Trump’s loss within the 2020 election.

Officials have stated Cole, who lives along with his mom in a D.C. suburb, supported Trump and didn’t just like the election end result.

“He was disappointed in various aspects of the election,” Jeanine Pirro, Trump’s handpicked prosecutor for Washington, D.C., advised ABC News in an interview.

Attorney General Pam Bondi prompt there could possibly be extra fees, although it wasn’t clear she was referring to extra fees in opposition to Cole or another person.

“This is ongoing. It’s very active. The search warrants are still being executed. Many charges potentially to come,” Bondi stated.

But D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith sounded extra definitive that they’d caught the man who did it: “The suspect responsible for this act is now in custody.”

As the years glided by with out a break within the pipe bomb case — and because the Justice Department arrested and charged greater than 1,500 Trump supporters for taking part within the riot that day — right-wing media latched on to the pipe bombs because the thriller that might exonerate Trump and his supporters.

The Blaze, an outlet based by former Fox News host Glenn Beck, went as far as to call a former Capitol Police officer because the pipe bomber. They retracted the story after Cole’s arrest, and an lawyer for the officer prompt to The Bulwark {that a} huge defamation lawsuit could possibly be coming.

Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, earlier than he was tapped for his present function, stated on his podcast in January that the pipe bombs have been an inside job designed to cease Republicans from objecting to the certification of Trump’s victory.

“It is a Democrat insider or an anti-Trump lunatic who was trying to stop on Jan. 6, four years ago, the Republicans from objecting to the election,” Bongino stated. “So they figured if they planted a bomb there that they could rush into the Capitol and go, ‘Stop the objections! Kamala Harris was almost killed by you!’”

Last week, after Cole’s arrest, Bongino stated he was “paid for my opinions” when he was podcasting. “But that’s not what I’m paid for now. I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts,” Bongino stated on Fox News.

In their January 2025 report on the unsolved pipe bomb case, Loudermilk and Massie stated the bombs served as a diversion that helped rioters breach the Capitol.

“The discovery of both pipe bombs, which had been laying outside for more than 16 hours, occurred within minutes of Congress’s vote to certify the 2020 presidential election and resulted in federal law enforcement diverting considerable resources away from the United States Capitol,” the Loudermilk-Massie report stated. “As a result, while law enforcement responded to the pipe bombs, protesters breached security perimeters at the Capitol and entered the building.”

Other conservative media homed in on Karlin Younger, the D.C. resident who first observed one in all Cole’s gadgets and instantly advised police, successful plaudits for being citizen. Pundit Julie Kelly insinuated there was one thing suspicious about Younger, for example, utilizing scare quotes to say she “found” the explosive.

In a public letter on Monday, Loudermilk requested Younger for a transcribed interview, notably citing conservative media stories that she labored for the federal government on the time.

“According to public reports, you were working as a government employee of the Department of Commerce on January 6, 2021, when you discovered a pipe bomb near the RNC,” Loudermilk’s letter stated.

Loudermilk advised HuffPost he desires to ask Younger about her assertion to the FBI that she thought the bomb had been positioned the day of the riot, not the day earlier than, as regulation enforcement has stated.

“She’s not a suspect or anything. We just think she can provide information,” Loudermilk stated. “I don’t know that anybody’s really looked deeply into where they possibly picked up and put back out again.”

Younger hasn’t responded to Loudermilk’s question, and he wouldn’t say if he plans to escalate to a subpoena if she doesn’t get in contact. Younger didn’t reply to a HuffPost question to her work electronic mail.

Loudermilk grew to become Republicans’ level man on their Jan. 6 counter-investigation after the unique Jan. 6 committee, the one led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wis.), launched movies of Loudermilk displaying a few of his constituents the tunnels connecting House workplace buildings to the Capitol, insinuating he one way or the other aided the insurrectionists.

The constituents took photos; a few of them later attended Trump’s rally close to the White House. Police in the end stated there was nothing suspicious about their picture-takingwhich is one thing vacationers generally do within the Capitol tunnels. Loudermilk complained he received dying threats on account of the committee’s queries.

HuffPost requested Loudermilk if he had any concern that his public letter would end in Younger getting undesirable consideration or threats. He acknowledged the likelihood.

“There’s people on the internet who still say that I gave reconnaissance tours,” he stated.