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Tag: january 6 capitol riots

  • Judge refuses to order release of man charged with planting pipe bombs on eve of Capitol riot – WTOP News

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    A federal magistrate judge on Friday refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

    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, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 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. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)(AP/Dana Verkouteren)

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal magistrate judge on Friday refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ruled that Brian J. Cole Jr. must remain jailed before trial. The magistrate concluded there are no conditions of release that can reasonably protect the public from the danger that Cole allegedly poses.

    Justice Department prosecutors say Cole confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters only hours before a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. According to prosecutors, Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and “hoped there would be news about it.”

    “Mercifully, that did not happen,” Sharbaugh wrote. “But if the plan had succeeded, the results,” he said, could have been devastating, “creating a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, D.C., grievously injuring DNC or RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse.”

    After his arrest last month, Cole told investigators that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” according to prosecutors.

    If convicted of both charges against him, Cole faces up to 10 years of imprisonment on one charge and up to 20 years of imprisonment on a second charge that also carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.

    Cole’s attorneys asked for him to be released on home detention with GPS monitoring. They said Cole doesn’t have a criminal record, has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lives in a stable home that he shared with his parents in Woodbridge, Virginia.

    “Mr. Cole simply does not pose a danger to the community,” defense attorneys wrote. “Whatever risk the government posits is theoretical and backward-looking, belied by the past four years where Mr. Cole lived at home with his family without incident.”

    Cole continued to purchase bomb-making components for months after the Jan. 6 riot, according to prosecutors. They said Cole told the FBI that he planted the pipe bombs because “something just snapped.”

    “The sudden and abrupt motivation behind Mr. Cole’s alleged actions presents concerns about how quickly the same abrupt and impulsive conduct might recur,” Sharbaugh wrote.

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    © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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  • State Department diplomatic security officer pleads guilty to storming Capitol – WTOP News

    State Department diplomatic security officer pleads guilty to storming Capitol – WTOP News

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    A man who worked as a U.S. State Department diplomatic security officer pleaded guilty on Friday to joining a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol over three years ago, court records show.

    This image from video from the Justice Department in the statement of facts supporting an arrest warrant, and annotated by the source, shows Kevin Alstrup, circled in yellow, a U.S. State Department diplomatic security officer, entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (Justice Department via AP)

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who worked as a U.S. State Department diplomatic security officer pleaded guilty on Friday to joining a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol over three years ago, court records show.

    Kevin Michael Alstrup is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 12 by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss.

    Alstrup pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Both counts are misdemeanors carrying a maximum prison sentence of six months.

    An attorney who represented Alstrup at his plea hearing didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

    A State Department spokesperson said Alstrup was a contractor who worked as a uniformed guard for the State Department starting in 2010. He no longer works at the department, the spokesperson said in an email.

    Alstrup admitted that he entered the Capitol building through the Senate Wing doors after other rioters had forced them open and broken windows aside them. He took photographs with a camera before leaving the building roughly 28 minutes after entering.

    Alstrup was arrested in February in Washington, D.C., where he lived on Jan. 6. The judge allowed him to remain free until his sentencing.

    The FBI determined that Alstrup, through his State Department work, “is familiar with providing security and protection for high-ranking government officials or sensitive locations, like embassies.” One of Alstrup’s supervisors identified him in a photograph of the riot, the FBI said.

    At a press briefing on Friday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that “we fully support the work by our colleagues at the Department of Justice to hold anyone responsible for violations of law on that horrific day accountable for those violations.”

    Approximately 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 900 of them have pleaded guilty. Over 200 others have been convicted by judges or juries after trials.

    Also on Friday, a West Virginia man who was employed as a firefighter in Arlington County, Virginia, was arrested on charges that he assaulted police officers during the riot. Brian Holmes was captured on video pushing two police officers up stairs outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

    Arlington County Fire Department employees told the FBI in July that they had worked with Holmes for roughly one year. Holmes was employed by the department at the time of the riot but hasn’t worked there since April 2023, according to Fire Capt. Nathaniel Hiner.

    “When made aware of the allegations, the ACFD cooperated fully with investigators,” Hiner said in an email.

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    Associated Press reporter Matt Lee in Washington contributed.

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    © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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