Judge Says Indictment Returned Against J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect

The Justice Department said recently that Brian Cole Jr. confessed to planting the bombs on Jan. 5, 2021.

Family of alleged January 6 pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. exit the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington on Dec. 30, 2025. Heather Diehl/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—An indictment has been returned against Brian Cole Jr., the Virginia man accused of placing pipe bombs in Washington before the events of Jan. 6, 2021, a judge said on Dec. 30, and complications remain ahead of an expected trial.

During a hearing in Washington, U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh said he didn’t immediately accept the indictment because it was returned by a grand jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia rather than the federal court where he was presiding.

The hearing was focused on whether to detain Cole, who has already been in custody, prior to trial. Speaking from the bench, Sharbaugh said he was taking the Justice Department’s request for pre-trial detention under advisement and that he hoped to soon have a decision.

Prosecutors pushed for his detention in a recent court filing that said Cole confessed to planting the two explosive devices near the Republican and Democratic party headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021. The defense argued Cole was not a danger to the community and proposed that he stay with his grandmother in Gainesville, Virginia. In a filing on Dec. 30, Cole’s attorneys said he was willing to undergo house arrest and wear an ankle monitor.

One of the defense’s arguments focused on the lack of an accepted indictment in the case, which stemmed from an FBI affidavit and criminal complaint earlier this month. That cut in their client’s favor, because indictments are typically a legal mechanism establishing some kind of probable cause, the attorney suggested.

Sharbaugh didn’t foreclose the possibility of accepting the superior court indictment but was reluctant due to an ongoing debate over the issue within the federal D.C. Circuit.

The U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is expected to review that issue but has yet to make a ruling. Sharbaugh pointed to a ruling on Dec. 9 from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who serves as the chief judge for the district, in a separate case that involved a similar question about indictments. In his order, Boasberg said “the public interest lies in letting the Court of Appeals decide this issue before the Government moves forward both on this case and in similar fashion on other cases.”

If convicted, Cole faces decades in prison for allegedly violating federal laws related to the attempted use and transportation of an explosive device. Cole, who could be seen in court wearing glasses and a beige shirt, has been living in Woodbridge, Virginia, with his mother and was detained at Rappahannock Regional Jail.

Justice Department Attorney Charles Jones attempted to portray Cole as a continued threat, citing nearly 1,000 deletions of Cole’s phone data since 2021 as well as purchases from 2022 of materials that could be used to make a bomb. Although Cole said he was pursuing a science experiment, Jones suggested that wasn’t the case and that Cole could not be trusted to follow his conditions of release.

Cole’s attorney, Mario Williams, emphasized that his client was autistic and had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), suggesting the latter was important context for the phone deletions. He also said the defense had an expert who said the explosive devices planted by Cole were not viable, contrary to what the Justice Department, which had its own expert, said.

Returning to his diagnoses, Williams said that Cole “does the same routine every day.” He also said that after speaking with Cole, he didn’t think Cole could “survive” in a prison or D.C. jail.

In its court filing, the defense said Cole has been diagnosed with OCD and autism spectrum disorder, level 1. Earlier this month, another magistrate judge issued an order allowing Cole to see mental health professionals.

Jones acknowledged that Cole lacked a criminal history but thought pre-trial release would be placing him in the same type of environment—being around, but nonetheless concealing information from, family members—as he was in 2021. He also described Cole as living essentially a “monastic lifestyle,” where he obsessed over issues online and resorted to violence to express his frustration.

This courtroom sketch depicts Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Va., the man accused of planting a pair of pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties on Jan. 5, 2021, in Washington, being sworn in before U.S. Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya, at Federal Court in Washington, as U.S. Attorney Charles Jones, seated left, and Defense Attorney John Shoreman, seated center, look on, on, Dec. 5, 2025. Dana Verkouteren via AP

A government filing, quoting Cole, states, “by his own admission, the defendant committed these chilling acts because he was unhappy with the response of political leaders on both sides of the political aisle to questions raised about the results of the 2020 election, and ‘something just snapped.’”

At one point, Cole’s grandmother took the stand to testify about her ability to serve as a third-party and the conditions of her gated community where Cole would live, if released. During part of her testimony, she said she would notify authorities if her grandson disobeyed court orders, even if that meant he could be detained.