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FBI Makes Arrest In DC Pipe Bombing Investigation; Boat Strike Briefing; Brian Walshe Trial. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 04, 2025 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, sources confirming the FBI has made an arrest in the pipe bomb case that arose the night before the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Just a month ago, the FBI released new video showing a person planting bombs near both the Republican and Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, DC. That happened nearly five years ago, and now a man is under arrest.

Let's get straight to CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez who has this latest breaking news. What are you learning about who has been arrested and how this all went down?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Sara, we don't have an identity yet of the alleged bomber, but the FBI made an arrest earlier today, earlier this morning that they believe resolves the nearly five year investigation into who planted those bombs. You remember that the bombs were planted the evening before the January 6 Capitol riot and this was done outside the DNC headquarters -- outside the RNC headquarters just a couple blocks away from the Capitol.

And because of the discovery of these devices happened when they did, it has driven a lot of conspiracies because you remember that this happened -- the police discovered this and it drew some of the police from the US Capitol Complex at about the same time that some of the crowds, the MAGA crowd, at the Capitol began breaking through the cordons of police there. And so as a result, there's been a lot of speculation about whether this was connected to the riot.

We don't know yet what the charges are going to be, what the allegations are against this person. We expect that we're going to hear a lot more later today from the Justice Department. But this has been an investigation that has certainly taken up hundreds of FBI agents' time. They've looked at thousands of pieces of video.

They've as you saw in that grainy video, there is not very good surveillance camera coverage of that area. And if you again, look at what he's wearing, according to the FBI, you know, part of the problem here was that, you know, it was a pandemic time. So he was wearing a face mask. It was a very cold winter night, and so there's not very good images of this person. But they've brought in a team in the last few months, the FBI did, and they took a new look at some of the same evidence that they've had in their hands for years. And they believe that shook loose some new clues that brought them to this place. Again, we're going to learn a lot more from the FBI and from the Justice Department in the coming hours, Sara

SIDNER: Evan Perez, thank you so much for coming on breaking that news for us here. I do want to go now to Steve Moore, a CNN Law Enforcement Contributor and retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent. You just heard, you know, Evan, kind of going over what the suspect looked like in the videos.

And we've been looking at it, I mean, completely covered. You do actually see someone walking by him in this particular video, with their dog after he has put down the package there that the FBI says is a viable bomb. What kind of work goes into trying to figure this out because this has taken almost five years to make an arrest?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: pipe bomb case: Well, Sara, the bomb itself or the device itself is going to give a lot of clues. Obviously they're going to probably use gloves, things like that, so that they don't leave any kind of fingerprints on it.

But every bomb is device is kind of like a fingerprint in and of itself. The person who creates those creates them in a very specific way that is unique to that person and it's -- it will generally lead you to that person. Plus the materials they use are traceable.

SIDNER: Give us some sense of how the videos may have played a role in this. They, just a month ago, released new video to the public of this person out in public doing, you know, putting down these devices. How big of a role -- how important will this be for prosecutors, but also how big of a role do you think this may have played in trying to track this person down?

[09:05:06]

MOORE: The videos are certainly going to be helpful, but they're not going to be conclusive. They're not -- you're not going to convict somebody off those videos, but it's very helpful. And they're going to look in there to see whether the person was wearing multiple layers of clothes to make them bulk up, whether it's a man or a woman. There's so many things you can glean. Excuse me.

SIDNER: No, you're fine. So I think the FBI is saying that it is a man who has been arrested, but this is big news. This happened the night before the January 6th attack. They have been looking ever since then, putting out new videos to the public. And finally, the FBI says they have made an arrest in that pipe bomb case where those devices were put in front of the DNC and RNC headquarters there in Washington, D.C.

So it's a big move from the FBI. Steve Moore, we are looking forward to hearing more details as they become available. Thank you for coming on and talking us through it. Kate? KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Another major story that we're tracking this morning. Arriving on Capitol Hill moments ago, the commander that the White House says ordered that second strike on an alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela. Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley is set to give a classified briefing today to lawmakers and also just into CNN, people briefed on the strike say that the Defense Department has been making the case that the survivors were still in the fight, quote, unquote, because they appeared to be radioing for help and could have theoretically continued trafficking the drugs, the alleged drugs, if they had been rescued.

One official says that Admiral Bradley is expected to make a similar case to lawmakers in explaining what all went -- what all happened in the decision making process and will show the video of the operation in this classified briefing.

Both President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have said that they did not know about the second strike at the time. The White House, though, maintains the admiral had full legal authority to do it. What does this now do to the serious level of concern and serious legal questions raised by even Republicans about this incident.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is live on Capitol Hill tracking this one for us. Arlette, what are you hearing about this briefing?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, both Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kane, arrived here at the US Capitol within the last half hour as they are preparing to brief lawmakers in a classified setting throughout the day about that double tap strike that killed survivors on an alleged drug trafficking vessel back in September in the Caribbean.

Now, we expect that they will be meeting with lawmakers, the heads of relevant committees, throughout the day. A short while ago, we actually saw Congressman Jim Himes, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, arriving here in an area where lawmakers typically receive these classified briefings.

And this new reporting from our colleagues over at the Pentagon is quite notable, that people briefed on the matter have said the Defense Department is making the case that those survivors were still in the fight because they were raided videoing for help and theoretically could have continued trafficking any drugs if they had been rescued. I think it's also quite notable that they said -- that an official said that Bradley will make this case to lawmakers and show them the video of the operation.

That is something that we have heard repeatedly from lawmakers up here on the Hill, is that they want to see the video, audio, have as many details as possible to ascertain exactly how this strike played out. And so, we anticipate that both of these military officers will be briefing lawmakers throughout the day, and we will try to learn from these lawmakers what they might be told and whether they might be satisfied or if there are still major concerns about the legality of these strikes, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Arlette on the Hill for us. Thank you so much. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now, retired Army Major Mike Lyons. Major, great to see you as always. I want to read you the reporting from the Wall Street Journal, which lays out this new argument that apparently Admiral Bradley is going to make to Congress today.

Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley plans to say he and his legal advisor concluded the two survivors were attempting to continue their drug run, making them and the already damaged vessel legitimate targets for another attack. So they survived the initial attack. They were going to continue to try to somehow move those drugs. Does that justify the second strike, major?

MIKE LYONS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, John. I think that the audio and video will tell the whole story on this. And I know the reports are leaking out on a lot of different ways as the White House and the Pentagon try to get in front of the story. But I just have a hard time believing Admiral Bradley committed a war crime.

[09:10:01]

We would not fire two Hellfire missiles, especially at just individuals in the water. There must have been a target there. There must have been something that the admiral thought that would be a threat. It was maybe the material that was floating around or maybe they didn't get the entire ship. And from that perspective, that's likely what they'll say. It didn't violate that law of land warfare.

So again, I'm confident that the Admiral did not commit a war crime. I think it's important that they speak to it, and I think as good General Caine is there as well, I think, to protect the joint forces here. I think it does bring up this point about there might be some ambiguity about what's going on between the Secretary of Defense, though, and the Special Operations Command, and I think maybe we'll try to get that fixed as well.

BERMAN: Why would the fact, if it is true, that these two survivors were continuing to try to move the boat and/or were in radio contact with others, why would that make them a legitimate target for a second strike?

LYONS: Well, from a military perspective, they're calling for help. It shows that they haven't given up the fight. Again, you're getting into a lot of the legal technicalities, and that's where I guess the Secretary of Defense was talking about this fog of war, because the admiral is looking at it through a video and can't really see what's exactly going on.

I would have thought, for example, if we knew they were on some kind of cell line or we would be monitoring that to see who they're talking to and extending that conversation to find out specifically what was going on. Maybe they did that as well. So again, it just gets back to this ambiguity around the mission, the timeliness of when it happened. Maybe that second round was already in the air. What likely made the first strike legal was the same thing that made the second strike legal. And again, I just have a hard time thinking that JSOC commander would fire something like that.

BERMAN: Yes. In their justification, which presumably they will lay out to Congress today. What kind of records typically exist in this situation? Are we talking about video? Are we talking about recordings of verbal conversations?

I read in one story today, they may have the actual various written text messages sent back and forth. I don't know if that's on the zipper net or nipper net, whatever you military folks call it, but what kind of records will there be?

LYONS: Yes, they'll collect everything digital, all that digital deaths and footprints that come from anybody that's talking about this mission from the top. They'll want to see the legal justification of it from the very beginning. And then in the operation itself while it was going on.

I think Senator Tillis brought up a good point yesterday as why did Secretary Hegseth leave after the first strike and he wasn't there at the second strike? It's very clear he's trying to distance himself very much from this situation, again, unfortunately, because they all should be aligned with regard to this mission, top to bottom, and they should be all on point with regard to what they're saying.

And I think that will come out, but there'll be enough evidence out there. And if it comes out that evidence is no longer there for whatever reason it was erased or destroyed, then unfortunately that sends up another red flag.

BERMAN: Major Mike Lyons, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. I had more chilling evidence in the case of a man accused of dismembering and murdering his wife. Towels and slippers that appear to be soaked in blood, plus a hatchet, a hacksaw. What we are expected to hear on the stand today by key witnesses.

Also, New Orleans is giving residents a tool to track and report possible abuse as immigration agents launch a new crackdown in that city. Plus, a three day manhunt over now after an inmate escaped a hospital in Georgia. We'll tell you where police and how police were able to track him down.

[09:13:47]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right. You're looking at live pictures there of court, which has just resumed in Massachusetts in the murder trial of Brian Walshe, who stands accused of murdering and dismembering his wife. The judge now speaking inside court.

It comes after jurors saw chilling photos of evidence connected to his wife Ana's appearance. Towels and her bedroom slippers that appear to be covered in blood. Brian Walshe accused, of course, of her death back in 2023.

Joining me now, CNN's Jean Casarez. One of the witnesses you had mentioned that is expected to take the stand today is the man who was having an affair with Walshe's wife Ana. What else have you learned as you were listening to this judge who is going over some details right now and what you saw yesterday as well?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Let's talk about what's happening right now. The jury's not in yet, but the judge is going over because we had heard that William Fastow, this is the man that she was having the affair with. He is coming in from Washington, DC to Boston.

He is a real estate entrepreneur with Sotheby's. And they appeared to be going in the direction of really something serious. But the issue right now is there are all these texts that Ana and William Fastow had. Some of them were very intimate. Some of them were about their future.

And the judge has said that only some of them can come in state of mind what is relevant. The defense wants everything in. They want every single text to come in through William Fastow that those two had.

And the judge is reading some case law here along with the facts of this case. You know what we learned? We learned because Brian Walshe told investigators when he was doing all these interviews that sometimes his wife would do text messages and emails, and they'd pop up on his phone and he'd be able to read them.

[09:20:13]

And the judge was just saying some case law about that, that that potentially could allow for more of these to come in if the defendant knew about it, and that potentially could go toward a motive for murder. What happened yesterday were the trash bags, and law enforcement wanted to know what Brian Walshe was doing in the days after his wife went missing.

And so, they took that cell phone, they got a warrant, they were able to ping it. He was throwing trash bags around the dumpsters in the community. And these are some of the things that they found. Ana's personal things. Her boots, her jacket, her Prada purse, her wallet, her Hermes leather watch was in there, along with her bathrobe and her slippers.

Let's look at the forensic scientist, too, that talked about some of the red brown stains that were found, including in his car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS GOULD, FORENSIC SCIENTIST: Bag No. 8 contained a hammer, a pair of wire snips, a hatchet, and a hacksaw with red brown stains on it. There were two areas of visible staining that I noted, one being a red brown stain on the front driver side visor. And then there was brown stains noted on the front passenger side visor.

On the passenger side of the vehicle, on the floor, there were two examination style gloves. Of all the areas I examined, there were five that tested positive for blood screening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, he has admitted dismembering her already he's pleaded guilty to conveying her body parts. So all of this can -- the blood can be expected, right? But the issue is, is there more to this story? Was there premeditated murder and then dismemberment?

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, it's fascinating because you brought up that his client. Walshe said he didn't know about the affair now we are expecting to hear from the man that his wife was having an affair with.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much. And of course, you don't have to miss a moment of this. There is live coverage of this trial that's now streaming on CNN All Access. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The Trump administration is launching immigration crackdowns in both Minneapolis and New Orleans as we speak. The Border Patrol chief seen in the French Quarter. Who's being arrested, though? We'll be right back on that.

And a veteran story goes viral. Why people all over the interwebs rallied behind him and raised tons of cash?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BAMBAS, VETERAN: I've never been on those programs. I don't own one of those fancy cell phones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:57]

BERMAN: All right. The breaking news this morning, sources confirm that the FBI has arrested a man who investigators believe planted pipe bombs on the eve of the Jan 6 Capitol riot near the Republican -- both the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters. The arrest is the result of a nearly five year investigation to uncover the identity of the suspect who was masked and in a hoodie seen in surveillance video.

If we're talking about that, let's put that video up so people can see the video that we're talking about. With us now is CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI. Andy, five years, talk to me about the significance of this arrest and what might have led to it.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. John, this is amazing -- an amazing example of the determination of FBI investigators who, long after the story kind of passes from the front page of the news, continue doing the tedious and hard work to get this thing moving forward.

Now, we don't -- we know somebody's been arrested. They haven't been convicted yet so we have to be careful about that. But there is so much that has gone into this over the years that people haven't really been focused on. It's super hard to find one person in a country of 330 million, especially on the eve of a day when thousands of people traveled to DC to attack the Capitol.

So this person had a lot of things going for them. We know they dropped the bombs about 15 hours before they were found. We know that neither device went off. They were -- we're told that they were both viable. So no doubt investigators started by focusing on those devices to see if they were in any way similar to the many thousands of devices the FBI has recovered over decades and decades, and decades of this work.

BERMAN: One of the things that's remarkable is that fairly early on, we had this video that we keep looking at here. And I think a lot of people saw that video and said, hey, we have a picture of the person actually planting it. So, how hard could it be to trace backwards from these moments to find the person? But clearly, it's no easy thing.

MCCABE: It is no easy thing. Especially the circumstances of this video are really not ideal. None of the video is of particular, you know, particularly clear. A lot of it is stop motion. You know, some video surveillance cameras only take a -- essentially take a photograph every second or so in an effort to save on memory usage.

We know he's also wearing very bulky, kind of not particularly revealing clothing. He's got a hood on. He's wearing a mask, which was typical at that time, you know, closer to the COVID pandemic.

So you don't have any of access to any of the typical markers that Biometric Identity software uses. Like Biometric works by essentially measuring the distances between your eyes and your nose, your mouth, things like that, coming up with a visual fingerprint, as it were. None of that is really available on the videos that we've seen.

Now, they did get some good clues out of the videos. For instance, they identified early on the brand and model of shoes that he was wearing. They determined there were only about 25,000 pairs of those out there in the world at that time. And so, I'm sure, you know, FBI agents spent many, many hours reviewing purchase records for Nike sneakers.