(Headline USA) As the tenure of FBI Director Christopher Wray winds down and the politicized agency prepares for a house-cleaning under presumptive Trump appointee Kash Patel, feds appeared to be attempting to get in front of one of the biggest suspected cover-up operations connected with the Jan. 6, 2021 uprising at the U.S. Capitol.
The FBI released more information about its pipe bomb investigation, including an estimate that the unidentified suspect is about 5 feet 7 inches tall. The bureau also was also posting previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.
#pipebombs @CBSNews first to report significance two, viable devices discovered at RNC 1245p + DNC 115p on January 6. @FBI now offering 100k reward + believes devices planted between “7:30 pm + 8:30 pm” on January 5, 2021” CONTEXT: Bomb maker used heavy black electrician’s tape pic.twitter.com/7QNtI5DTwv
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) January 29, 2021
Images show the suspect was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a face mask, black gloves and a black and grey pair of Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo. The person also wore or carried a backpack containing the bombs.
Surveillance video captured the suspect placing the pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI says both devices could have been lethal.
Yet, a host of basic questions remains unanswered four years later. For starters, investigators claim not to know if the suspect is a man or a woman.
Furthermore, they have not established a clear link between the pipe bombs, which were placed on Jan. 5, and the breaching of the Capitol itself by a group comprising Trump supporters, left-wing activists and more than two dozen FBI informants.
The lack of answers have driven many to suspect that it may have been a false-flag attempt overseen by the feds themselves to force the evacuation of the Capitol as Republican lawmakers attempted to challenge the highly dubious outcome of the 2020 election.
Some noted that then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was within mere yards of one of the bombs during an early-morning visit to the DNC headquarters. However, she has offered little in the way of public acknowledgement about the imminent danger she faced, falsely claiming, to the contrary, that she was in the Capitol at the time.
The FBI has told the public for 3+ years that the J5/6 “pipe bomber” planted the devices the night before. FBI brass insisted pipe bombs were viable—with black power—and deadly.
So how did bomb sniffing canine miss DNC “bomb” just a few feet away at 9:50am? pic.twitter.com/ueyk85y6yA
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) February 13, 2024
Other theories included indication that the FBI might be fully aware of the pipe-bomb suspect’s identity. After counterterrorism whistleblower Jade Parker released a Google Drive document and social-media posts claiming to know the identity, Parker mysteriously vanished.
The FBI long denied having any operatives in the crowd that breached the Capitol until the release of a damning inspector general’s report last month, one day after Wray announced his resignation.
It continued to deny any additional knowledge or direct involvement with respect to the planting of the bombs.
The FBI “can’t work on assumptions,” said David Sundberg, assistant director in charge of the bureau’s Washington field office.
“Without being able to confirm the suspect’s identity, it is very hard to definitively establish motive,” Sundberg told the Associated Press. “Therefore, it would be difficult for us to state that there is a link, although we can’t state there is not one.”
House Republicans also have criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours.
The FBI release comes on the heels of a bombshell report from Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and the House Administration Committee suggesting an FBI coverup.
“After more than 1,400 days since two pipe bombs were placed on Capitol Hill, the FBI has made no arrest and has charged no individuals with planting the explosive devices,” the reoirt noted. “Since its initial progress in the early weeks and months of the investigation, there has been little meaningful progress toward the apprehension of the suspect.”
BREAKING: Congress just released BOMBSHELL findings on the January 6th pipe bomb investigation, revealing that the FBI engaged in a massive coverup.
The Committee determined that "There is conflicting information as to whether the FBI received “corrupted” cellular data from the… pic.twitter.com/ltka1wVDjz
— George (@BehizyTweets) January 2, 2025
Sundberg insisted that the agency’s good faith efforts had simply run up against the constraints of its limited resources.
“We remain focused on conducting an investigation using all of the tools we have at our disposal,” he claimed. “But it is incumbent upon us to follow facts and evidence.”
The FBI insists it has assessed over 600 tips, reviewed about 39,000 video files and conducted more than 1,000 interviews over the past four years.
Harris was inside the DNC offices when the pipe bomb was found outside the building about 1:05 p.m. on Jan. 6. Before the bomb was deactivated, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s motorcade passed by the DNC building as she was evacuated from the Capitol, according to House Republicans.
This week, the FBI was releasing a minute-long video that showed the suspect sitting on a park bench outside the DNC before placing the first bomb there at about 7:54 p.m. The suspect placed the second bomb about 8:16 p.m., in an alley behind the RNC, the FBI claimed.
The FBI also was releasing closeup images of the type of Nike sneakers worn by the suspect. Fewer than 25,000 pairs of the same shoe were sold between August 2018 and January 2021, according to the FBI.
You can visit https://t.co/xHIDoPAj1F to view all the information about this investigation, including a video with updated maps of the route the suspect walked, footage of the suspect placing a bomb near the DNC, and a video of the shoes the suspect wore.
— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) January 2, 2025
“Based on attire, those are probably the most remarkable or distinctive feature when it comes to clothing the suspect wore,” Sundberg said. “We’re hoping that somebody might recognize that.”
The FBI used surveillance footage to track the suspect’s movements through Capitol Hill on the night of Jan. 5. The suspect initially is captured on video at about 7:34 p.m. at the intersection of First Street and North Carolina Avenue. The suspect is last seen on camera around 8:18 p.m. heading east on Rumsey Court.
“The suspect in this case did a very good job covering themselves up at a time that this would not be abnormal, so it didn’t raise any attention,” Sundberg said, referring to face masking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Video of the suspect was sporadically available and often of poor quality, according to Sundberg. The 17-hour gap between the planting and discovery of the pipe bombs made it more difficult to identify potential witnesses, he claimed.
Investigative journalist Julie Kelly pointed to other evidence, however, showing that higher-speed videos existed and had previously been released. She said the new evidence dump appeared to be staged as part of the agency’s cover-up operations.
🚨BOMBSHELL🚨
Top investigative journalist Julie Kelly reveals research leading her to conclude:
– Feds planted J6 pipe bomb
– Assassin Thomas Crooks had a Fed "handler" and was in communication with FBI informant, agent, or asset
"It has all the hallmarks of another setup." pic.twitter.com/ywDRDTYlCp
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 15, 2024
Authorities previously offered a reward of up to $500,000 for information leading to the suspect’s arrest and conviction.
The Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site, said the new release may be part of a crafty effort to collect its own reward money.
FBI Turns Itself In For Planting Jan 6 Pipe Bomb To Collect $500,000 Reward From FBI https://t.co/dmxGAK2aSm pic.twitter.com/B9IQnEEwLY
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) January 3, 2025
President-elect Trump, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20, repeatedly has vowed to pardon some or many of the political dissidents who entered the Capitol. More than 1,500 people have been charged by the Biden Justice Department with Jan. 6-related crimes. About 1,100 have been convicted and sentenced. Over 700 defendants got terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.
Sundberg said he doesn’t expect the change in administration to alter the course of the FBI’s pipe bomb investigation.
“We don’t know who the suspect is,” he added. “And I expect that we will continue to work this case until its logical conclusion and we identify a suspect.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
