Brian Cole, accused of planting bombs before Capitol attack, presents ‘intolerable risk of danger’, court finds
A federal magistrate judge has ruled that the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican headquarters the night before the 6 January Capitol attack must remain in custody while awaiting trial.
In a memorandum opinion, the court determined that Brian Cole Jr, 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, “poses an intolerable risk of danger to the community if released”, granting the government’s motion for pretrial detention.
The judge wrote that “there are no conditions of release the court could impose to reasonably assure the safety of the community”, despite defense arguments that Cole could be placed under home detention with GPS monitoring.
Cole faces two federal charges stemming from allegations that he constructed, transported and attempted to detonate two improvised explosive devices near party headquarters in Washington on the evening of 5 January 2021. Neither device exploded and Capitol police safely disabled both, though the hunt for the perpetrator had been elusive since.
