SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., the night before the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot was back in federal court today. This is the second time Brian Cole Jr. has been in court since arrest early this month, following a nearly five-year-long investigation. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas was in court today and joins us now. Hi, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi there.
DETROW: Before we get into today's hearing, remind us who Cole is, what he's charged with.
LUCAS: So Cole was arrested a little under a month ago. He's 30 years old. He's African American. He lived with his mother in Virginia not far outside D.C. and worked for the family's bail bond business. But prosecutors say that Cole is the man who planted two pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Party headquarters here in D.C. on January 5, 2021, so the night before, as you said, the mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The pipe bombs didn't explode. They were found on January 6. They were diffused, but for nearly five years, the FBI tried to track down the culprit who planted them. And for nearly five years, they came up empty.
DETROW: So what ended up leading them to Cole?
LUCAS: Well, FBI Director Kash Patel has said that the FBI under this administration brought in a new team of agents and specialists to comb through all the evidence that the bureau had collected. And the trail that they picked up on through financial records and cell phone records ultimately led them to Cole. He was arrested. He now faces two criminal charges, transporting an explosive device with intent to kill and attempted malicious destruction with explosive materials.
DETROW: Cole was back in court today. What was the hearing about?
LUCAS: So this was a detention hearing. It was focused on whether Cole should remain in jail as this case moves forward to trial. Now, the government wants Cole to remain locked up. Prosecutors say he's a serious danger to the community. They say that he evaded arrest for nearly five years, that he hid his bomb-making activities from his family and that he continued to buy bomb-making components after the events of January 6, 2021, and that he took actions to cover his tracks.
They also say that after Cole's arrest, he voluntarily spoke to investigators. And they say Cole confessed to building these pipe bombs, to transporting them and planting them. Cole allegedly also told them that he needed to, quote-unquote, "speak up" for people who felt that the 2020 election, which Donald Trump lost, had been tampered with. And that's interesting because it's really the first hint at a possible motive for Cole that we have seen prosecutors put forward in their filings or in their statements in court.
DETROW: What did you hear from Cole's attorneys?
LUCAS: So they didn't address his alleged confession, and they also didn't dispute the seriousness of the charged conduct. But on the question of whether he should be detained pending trial, they want to see him released. His attorney, Mario Williams, said Cole is autistic and has obsessive-compulsive disorder. He also said that Cole has no criminal history and that he poses no threat to the community, and, in fact, that he has deep community and family ties. And I'll add that there were two rows in the courtroom today filled with family members there to support Cole.
Now, Williams also said that the last purchase that Cole made of supposed bomb-making components was in 2022, so three years ago, and that nothing had been done with them. He also said that Cole wasn't conspiring with anyone. He wasn't stockpiling anything. So what the defense is proposing is that Cole be released under strict conditions and monitoring. He would live with his grandmother. Williams also said that Cole couldn't survive, physically or emotionally, time in the D.C. jail or some other lockup.
DETROW: What did the court end up deciding?
LUCAS: So Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh listened to both sides. He asked a lot of questions before taking about a 20-minute break or so. He then came back into the courtroom. We were expecting a ruling. And what he said was that he's going to take this whole matter under advisement. It was too important and sensitive of an issue to rule on from the bench. So he's going to take a day or two, he said, to review everything before making his decision.
DETROW: That's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Thank you so much.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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