After five years of investigating, authorities have arrested a suspect in the Washington, D.C., pipe bomb case that developed at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021.

This was just before the Capitol protest-turned-riot where thousands massed at the government building to protest what they saw as the unfair results of the 2020 presidential election. A few hundred broke into the building and vandalized it, and the government prosecuted even those who were convicted of no more than trespassing with years in jail.

President Donald Trump ended that with a pardon of those offenders when he took office in his second term.

Now Fox News reports the FBI has arrested a suspect, “a male living in Virginia.”

The report cited “sources” and said the suspect, at the time, was on video wearing a gray hoodie, Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers, a face mask, glasses, and gloves.

The report said, “Authorities discovered the two pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committees’ headquarters around the same time that thousands of protesters a few blocks away began to descend on the Capitol over the 2020 election results. Video footage released by the FBI showed an unidentified person placing the pipe bombs near the two headquarters more than 16 hours before law enforcement found them.”

A wire service report said it was the first time investigators “have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement.”

It was the AP that cited its source, an official who “was not authorized to publicly discuss a case that has not yet been made public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

BREAKING: A Virginia man has been arrested in connection with the placement of two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, sources said. https://t.co/DAVhZNgaMc pic.twitter.com/ipk9UcpuGo

— ABC News (@ABC) December 4, 2025

BREAKING – The FBI has arrested a Virginia man tied to the D.C. pipe bomb case involving devices planted at the RNC and DNC the day before January 6.

Sources say the suspect was identified years ago, but a fresh review of documents led to today’s arrest. pic.twitter.com/t09aHdi9s4

— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) December 4, 2025

FBI makes arrest in Jan. 6 pipe bomb investigation after nearly 5 years https://t.co/hjOBG9G30e pic.twitter.com/Kxk0odMraf

— New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2025

The bombs were defused and no one was injured.

Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, had pursued action in the case.

“We brought in new personnel to take a look at the case, we flew in police officers and detectives working as TFOs (task force officers) to review FBI work, we conducted multiple internal reviews, held countless in person and SVTC meetings with investigative team members, we dramatically increased investigative resources, and we increased the public award for information in the case to utilize crowd-sourcing leads,” he wrote on social media.

The pipe bombs apparently were put in place about 15 hours before they were found, and the FBI has confirmed they could have caused injury and damage.

The suspect was named by the FBI as Brian Cole, 30, of Virginia.

He reportedly was into anarchist ideologies, and his arrest came after the FBI reassessed evidence it already had collected.

Authorities described the pipe bombs has homemade, consisting of threaded galvanized pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder.