The FBI released new video Thursday of a suspect planting a pipe bomb outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in 2021 – nearly four years after the harrowing incident as authorities continue to seek the perpetrator.
In a move meant to shine a spotlight back on the case, the bureau also revealed a new detail on the masked and hooded suspect, putting the person’s height at 5 feet 7 inches. The video is from January 5, 2021. It was one of two explosives the suspect placed.
But even the suspect’s gender remains unknown. ‘Without being able to confirm the suspect’s identity, it is very hard to definitively establish motive,’ said assistant director in charge of the bureau’s Washington field office David Sundberg. Investigators have yet to even establish a clear link to the attack on the Capitol that unfolded just blocks away.
‘Therefore, it would be difficult for us to state that there is a link, although we can’t state there is not one,’ he told the AP.
The renewed push to find the bomb suspect comes as Hill investigators found that federal agents botched security sweeps and failed to properly set up a safety perimeter after the discovery of a pair of pipe bombs January 6.
These are just some of the lapses in a blistering new report by the House Administration committee.
The new 80-age report pores over the ‘serious, and largely overlooked, security failure on January 6’ including the ‘delayed’ discovery of the bombs close to the two party headquarters buildings and the ‘chaotic response’ once they were found.
It was a good Samaritan who discovered the first bomb near the Republican Party’s Capitol Hill Club while leaving her home to do laundry January 6, on a day when agencies were on alert for the congressional counting of the electoral votes – and when a mob of Donald Trump supporters breached the Capitol.
Investigations would later learn that the bomb had been there since January 5 and had gone undetected. Four years later, the suspect is still at large.
Among just some of the lapses identified:
– Agents failed to identify the bomb near the DNC during security sweeps;
– Agents allowed traffic and pedestrians to cross ‘within feet’ of the explosive devices;
– They allowed the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s motorcade ‘to drive through an acting bomb scene, risking the safety of the Speaker;’
– And they allowed commuter trains to pass by the DNC bomb, ‘placing civilians within close proximity to one of the viable devices.’
The startling revelations come just days after the FBI said it uncovered the largest cache of explosives including pipe bombs in its history during a search of a Virginia farm near Norfolk. Authorities have made no suggestion the cases are connected.
The report includes numerous images from security footage revealing the times pedestrians unwittingly strolled within feet of a device that authorities said could have maimed or killed people.
The findings came in an interim staff report for the House Administration Committee, chaired by Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, and a Judiciary subcommittee meeting chaired by Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.).
The report catalogues threats to Republicans and Democrats on a day essential to the democratic transition of power, although Loudermilk took the opportunity to take a shot at the House January 6 Committee that probed the events that day when the Democrats were in charge.
‘The FBI has no suspects on the J6 RNC/DNC pipe bombs, and Pelosi/Cheney’s former J6 Select Committee failed to report on the many security failures surrounding the event during their ‘investigation” he wrote on X. ‘Today’s report highlights why the American people still deserve the full truth.’
This image shows part of a “Seeking Information” notice released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding pipe bombs planted outside offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, on the eve of the attack on the Capitol. (FBI via AP)
That came on a day President Joe Biden is set to honor former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) with a Presidential Citizens Medal.
The report also outlines various investigative leads, including a ‘person of interest’ who did an internet search on pipe bombs prior to their discovery, someone who took photographs behind the RNC, and someone who owned a pair of Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers.
But it says the FBI has refused to provide additional information about the leads.
The report, in the final hours of the 118th Congress, notes that the discovery of the bombs drew vital personnel away from the Capitol during a critical period. Capitol Police identified a ‘very large group’ of people approaching the Capitol at 12:30 that day. A Capitol Hill resident discovered a pipe bomb at 12:38 pm, and told a security guard minutes later.
The report catalogues ‘a series of egregious safety and security failures’, starting with the failure to discover the bomb at the DNC through a sweep, delaying its discovery.
‘Over the course of the morning, numerous [U.S. Secret Service] agents passed by the pipe bomb yet failed to identify it,’ the report states. The bomb was located 20 feet from the DNC’s garage.
Harris remained in the building for over an hour, leaving minutes after a Capitol Police officer discovered the device at 1:05 pm.