Photo: Alamy
Congressional investigators have uncovered previously unseen video showing the unidentified Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect stopping at the Congressional Black Caucus Institute building the night before the Capitol riot.
The finding raises new questions about the individual’s actions and motives, House Judiciary subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., said Thursday. The footage reportedly depicts the person kneeling near a bush outside the CBC Institute shortly before 8 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021. No explosive device was found at the site, but Loudermilk said the stop represents the earliest known point at which the suspect appeared to take deliberate action.
“We’ve tracked that path with security camera footage that we have access to, but they missed one key aspect…they made a stop as they walked past the Congressional Black Caucus, turned, and went on to the property and knelt down by a bush. Now this is the first real stop that the pipe bomber made,” Loudermilk said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. “Now this is before they actually placed the bomb at the DNC. So, what were they doing there at the Congressional Black Caucus? No bomb was found there.”
The CBC Institute sits next to the Democratic National Committee headquarters, where one of two pipe bombs was discovered the next day. The other was found outside the Republican National Committee headquarters. The FBI has not identified a suspect, despite extensive footage and a $500,000 reward that remains unclaimed.
Loudermilk said the footage raises new uncertainties about the suspect’s intent, including whether a third device was planned or whether an initial placement was abandoned.
“[Maybe] the original plan was to place one there and then one at the DNC, but for some reason, decided not to place it there and ended up putting that one at the RNC,” he said. “Was there originally three pipe bombs and that one, maybe something happened to it and it fell apart? We don’t know.”
The new video comes as investigators continue to question key elements of the FBI’s timeline. Documents obtained by Loudermilk’s panel show that a witness reported the RNC device still had 20 minutes left on its kitchen timer when it was found on Jan. 6, contradicting the bureau’s earlier assertion that both bombs were planted the previous evening. The new footage represents the latest twist in what has become one of the most enduring mysteries of Jan. 6 that remains unresolved.