FBI Director Kash Patel delivered a stunning charge on Thursday, accusing the former Biden administration of sitting on critical evidence in the 2021 pipe bomb case for four years.
The case involves explosive devices planted outside both the Democratic and Republican national headquarters the night before the Jan. 6 Capitol protests.
Patel said the failure to act was so severe that it amounted to “sheer incompetence or complete intentional negligence.” He argued that only a change in leadership at the bureau finally revived the dormant investigation.
Authorities arrested 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, on Thursday.
Federal officials say he is responsible for planting the bombs outside both party headquarters. Cole is scheduled to appear in a Washington, D.C. court for arraignment.
According to federal affidavits, investigators used financial records and cell phone tracking to connect Cole to both the construction of the bombs and their placement.
Authorities say the trail goes back as far as 2019.
Patel said the reopened probe uncovered what the Biden FBI failed to do, as the Conservative Brief reported.
“We looked at three million lines of evidence,” he said on Fox News. He described investigators combing through cell tower logs, location data and digital records that were originally ignored.
Patel said his team discovered basic investigative steps that were simply skipped. He asked why phone numbers connected to the bombing were never cross-referenced, why warrants were not fully acted on and why geolocation evidence was left untouched.
He called it either a major failure or a deliberate refusal to investigate. “Neither is acceptable,” Patel said.
He added that once Trump returned to the White House, the FBI changed direction and reopened every piece of evidence.
Trump appointed former Fox News host Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI. Bongino publicly said the case was his top priority. He previously speculated, as a media personality, that the bomber could have been a politically connected figure or part of an internal operation.
Bongino addressed those comments on Fox News, saying his past opinion was not part of the current FBI investigation. He said the bureau now follows hard facts.
“I was paid in the past for my opinions,” Bongino said. “That is not what I am paid for now.”
Bongino said the public will be satisfied as more information is released.
“We are pretty comfortable we have our guy,” he said. He dismissed the political speculation around the case and said the new leadership is committed to pursuing evidence wherever it leads.
Patel said the reopened probe represents a major shift inside the bureau. He claimed the FBI under Trump is now reviewing other stalled cases. He said the bureau will no longer allow investigations to be “slow walked” or buried.
The pipe bombs were found before they could explode. Patel said Americans are owed answers about why such a major threat went unanswered for so long.
