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FBI Arrests Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia in 2021 D.C. Pipe Bomb Case; Hegseth Under Pressure Over Boat Strike, Signal Chat Report. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 04, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: -- we are going to solve this crime. And they did working hand in hand with U.S. Attorney Pirro and all of our great attorneys

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pierre (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: General Bondi, Director Patel, or Deputy Director Bongino, can you describe, was there a particular moment where the evidence is coming in and is starting to look like progress is being made? What was the moment that you knew that you were on the road to solving the case?

Dan, you want to take that?

DAN BONGINO, FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Yeah, sure. I was smiling at you because I certainly remember the moment. Darren remembers it too. He said, are you sitting down? He called me on the phone. I said, oh boy, why? Is this bad news? And he said, I think we got him. What exactly that tip was? We're going to have to pass on that for right now, while we're still there's -- obviously, we're in the prologue of a long book. This is just the beginning. This is not the end of the investigation, as you all well know having reported on these for a long time.

There's interviews to be conducted. The search warrant processing scene is not even done. So we are at the early stages. So that's the only reason I hesitate to tell you what the exact tip was. But yes, that was absolutely the moment and it was due to the diligent and incredible work of a team in the Washington Field Office that came in and just scoured through this over and over and over and over again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In general, was it forensic? Was it a phone call? Was it something about a vehicle, just in general?

BONGINO: I'd rather -- I -- we'll just leave it generally, forensic evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forensic?

BONGINO: Yeah. It's fair enough to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me, how long ago that was? BONGINO: I'd rather not say because of the ongoing interview process. And I don't want to --

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Can I say one thing?

BONGINO: Yeah, yeah, of course.

PIRRO: I just want to add something, to tell you how thorough this team was that, that moment that was kind of like the aha moment, that wasn't the end. This team continued to work and work and work to get every bit of evidence that we could get. We didn't stop at that moment. And that's a testament to the fact that the team wanted every possible evidence, piece of evidence that they could gather.

BONDI: One more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much. Have you recovered the notable sneakers? Have you done surveillance of this suspect from that aha moment to when you exercised the search warrants today? And obviously, this happened on January 5th into January 6th. How should the public look at this case, separate from all of the cases related to what transpired on January 6th and the president's subsequent (inaudible)?

BONDI: I'm going to let Director Patel take the evidence part. We have to be careful again. You've asked very good investigative questions, but this is ongoing, very active, but America should feel safer today. We say a pipe bomb. These are bombs. These were live active bombs that were placed in Washington, D.C. Director?

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Thank you. This shows you how much detail. You and the American public have paid attention to this case. Of course, we analyzed everything that you're seeing on this poster board and information that you will see through the formal charging process and court process. But we want to let that evidence speak for itself because, again, we do not want to disrupt the accountability that we owe the American public. Yes, you heard about the cell phone tower data. Yes, you heard about, of course, we surveil individuals who we think are going to blow up American citizens.

But how and when we do it and why we do it is not something we're ever going to reveal unless the Department of Justice deems it fit at trial. So, we appreciate your attention to detail and your hardcore investigative work, but you can just imagine, some of those same skills were being utilized by this FBI, this Department of Justice, our partners, the ATF and everybody across the board. And this is an interagency win for the American people.

(CROSSTALK)

BONDI: Thank you, all. And one more thing, this is the best birthday present, I think, Deputy Director Bongino could ask for today. Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. Thank you. BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We've been listening to administration officials at the Department of Justice announcing that a suspect is arrested after two pipe bombs were planted at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Headquarters back in January 5th, January 6th, 2021. There, you just heard Attorney General, Pam Bondi say that there wasn't new tip. There were no new witnesses in this case, rather the work of looking very closely at the evidence that was at hand. She says that the total lack of movement in a statement critical of the previous administration, on the case undermined public trust.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah. She was slamming the Biden administration. And we should note that we're also witnessing this kind of team building exercise --

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

KEILAR: -- right, there at the Justice Department because it is quite notable as there has been a widely reported recent rift between Pam Bondi and Dan Bongino over the Epstein files handling here in recent months.

[14:05:00]

But also, you've had a lot of allies of the presidents who have been fixated on this identity of the pipe bomber, right? You had Dan Bongino before he came into this role at the FBI, saying that he thought this was an inside job. So that emphasis time and again from these officials that there's no new tip, no new witness as Pam Bondi said, that really stood out. Let's bring in Brian Todd. He's actually near the home of the suspect, Brian Cole Jr., there in Woodbridge, Virginia, not far from Washington, D.C. where we are. Brian, what have you found out?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna and Boris, we are here at the scene right next to the suspect's house in Woodbridge, Virginia. I'm going to have our photojournalist, Linda Gaudino kind of zoom past me, so you can get as close a view as you can. We're going to be asked to actually leave this area in a second here, just so you know. But that is the scene right there. This is a cul-de-sac. The suspect's house is not that red brick house in the background. It is the one next to it with the white siding that you see. And you can see law enforcement vehicles there.

We have talked to several neighbors about what happened this morning when law enforcement just converged on this area in massive force, by every account that we've gotten here. One of the neighbors told us that at about 8:30 in the morning, they heard people coming in here, the law enforcement coming in here. They were using loudspeakers, asking people to move cars and to stay in their homes, and to basically just stay where they were. But they also said that they came to this house. One neighbor said that he saw people in camouflage and carrying automatic weapons, that he came a little closer, basically to this fence line area to watch some of this.

He said that they went over a loudspeaker and said that they were with the FBI and that they had a warrant. They said one woman came out of the house and spoke to them. They did not take that woman into custody, he said. The woman went back into the house. He said that another woman came out of the house and they spoke to her, that she then went back in the house. And then he saw these law enforcement officials again in camouflage, SWAT team outfits, carrying automatic weapons converge into the house.

He said he did not witness them bringing the suspect out of the house. But there you see it, the scene has been processed now for several hours. We saw a K-9 team being brought in here just a short time ago. They've been carrying boxes of evidence out of the house for the last couple of hours. And again, you can see FBI personnel there. Now, we also have gotten some accounts from neighbors about the suspect himself, describing him as someone who would keep to himself almost as a reclusive figure in the neighborhood.

They would see him walking a small dog. They described it as a Chihuahua, and they would see him often walking the dog. They said he was almost constantly walking the dog. But other than that, he basically stayed in the house. Some neighbors said that they would sometimes come upon him when they were walking their dogs, they would say hello to him. He would say hello, but he would not interact with them. He was often seen wearing headphones, again, keeping to himself, taking long and frequent walks with a small dog. They described it as a Chihuahua.

Again, they also had descriptions of this neighborhood as being kind of a very average, nice, tight-knit neighborhood. They had barbecues at the end of that cul-de-sac at least once a year. The HOA would hold barbecues and other events, bringing in law enforcement, fire department people here just to kind of participate in the community. It's a very tightly knit community. Again, people here telling us they're basically in shock by what they heard and saw here this morning, A very loud and active scene when law enforcement first converged upon the house, again, just over my right shoulder right there.

SANCHEZ: Brian Todd in Woodbridge, Connecticut where the suspect was arrested. Thank you so much for that update, Brian. Let's go to Evan Perez, who was at the briefing at DOJ. Evan, Cole here has been charged with using an explosive device, but there may be more charges coming depending on what investigators discover.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris. And we certainly expect that there's going to be a lot more charges that are going to be -- that are going to be brought against the suspect. Now, what you heard in that press conference, obviously, was very valedictory. There's a lot of credit being passed around the room with good reason. Obviously, there's a lot of work that went into this and certainly, the Deputy Attorney General, Dan Bongino, I think, gets some credit for having a lot of focus, bringing in an outside team, a team from outside the Washington Field office.

These were agents from the FBI, from ATF who were brought here and asked to essentially put fresh eyes on evidence that they've had. I think it's also however misleading, what you heard a lot in that room a little while ago, this idea that evidence was just gathering dust and that there wasn't a lot of resources. I can tell you that, talking to people at the FBI, that there's been a lot of focus on this.

[14:10:00]

This happens all the time where you have a fresh set of eyes on evidence, can reveal new things. And I think that is what has happened here, certainly from talking to sources. What's key -- one of the key things you hear there -- you heard there from the, from the U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, was the level of detail that went into this investigation. They talked about hundreds of thousands of components that were sold, that were used in these devices. They analyzed the pipes, the type of pipes, the end caps, the wires, and they went to the suppliers in this region to see where they -- where those things were sold. That is the level of detail that went into that investigation.

So there's certainly a lot of credit that needs to be given to those investigators. And I'm told by the way, that the identification of this suspect happened only very recently. It's been something that they've been going around for several months, but certainly, only recently did they develop enough information to be able to identify this suspect and really come to believe that they had found the person who was responsible for those two pipe bombs. The fact that this person alluded the FBI and all these investigators for all these months, it's I think another story that will have to learn about in the coming days.

KEILAR: Yeah. And it appears as Deputy Director Bongino was telling it, there was kind of an aha moment that perhaps we will learn about later. Let's bring in Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI. I wonder what stood out to you in this press conference, Andy?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF FBI: Yeah. Well, a lot, but I'll -- two things really principally. The first is we got very little information about what actually happened here. And you saw a lot of reticence around -- a lot of repeating the word ongoing, it's ongoing. Certainly, it is ongoing, but you have someone in custody, which means they've been indicted or they've been charged by a complaint. Either way, there is an affidavit that's going to get exposed in court that has to at least lay out enough evidence to show that there's probable cause to detain this person.

So, typically we get more at the press conference, at least we get the facts from the affidavit. So that would've -- we haven't learned that much. But what I will say is, the way they kind of conducted the press conference is concerning to me, a lot of credit going around and that's terrific. It's a big day. People are clearly very happy with this result, which is absolutely legitimate.

But, the kind of political message that, particularly the attorney general kept coming back to, really kind of -- you can't criticize years and years, suggest that there was years and years of no investigation and evidence sitting around collecting dust without taking a swipe at the investigators who were responsible for that case from the day it started until where we are today. I'm sure that was not the case. I'm sure that everyone who worked on this case from the very beginning until today contributed in some substantial way.

Maybe they did bring in experts recently to re-look at the evidence. That's a great thing to do. It happens in lots of cold cases. Maybe that was what really got them over the hump here. But those experts wouldn't have had the information to work with had not the original case team done the work that they did in the years prior. So, you heard the Washington Field Office leader, the Assistant Director in Charge took a very different tone and I think really appropriately tried to draw attention to the team that actually did this work over the last several years.

So, I hope that those comments are not another divisive kind of morale shot to the bureau, to the people who worked this case, who quite frankly today should be really celebrating and be very proud about what their team accomplished.

KEILAR: All right, Andrew McCabe, thank you so much. Obviously, there is a lot of information we do not know and we are waiting to learn it.

Still to come, the Somali community in Minneapolis is on edge as ICE agents begin a new operation in that area.

SANCHEZ: And later, if you were thinking it was already cold, just wait. It's going to get colder, much colder. Details in your forecast, coming up.

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[14:18:50]

SANCHEZ: A busy day on Capitol Hill. Senior lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services, Intelligence, and Appropriations Committees are receiving classified briefings on the so-called double-tap strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean back in September. Top military officials, including Admiral Mitch Bradley, have been meeting with senior lawmakers. Admiral Bradley was the Head of Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the strike.

After seeing video of the incident, Republican Senator Tom Cotton had a very different reaction than what we heard earlier from Democratic Congressman Jim Himes. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON, (R-AR): The first strike, the second strike, and the third and the fourth strike on September 2nd were entirely lawful and needful, and they were exactly what we'd expect our military commanders to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Senator Richard Blumenthal. He's a member of the Armed Services Committee. Senator, thank you so much for being with us. In case you hadn't heard, and to inform our viewers, Congressman Himes described it as one of the most disturbing things he'd seen while in Congress. I wonder what you've been able to learn from hearing about these briefings. You've not been briefed yourself, correct?

[14:20:00]

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D-CT) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: That is correct. And what's most disturbing to me, Boris, is that we haven't been briefed. And even more important, the public hasn't seen that video of the second strike that my colleague, Jim Himes, has called one of the most disturbing things he's seen in his public service. Tom Cotton has a different view. But the real question is whether that second strike was in fact a murder, a war crime, or necessary to disable a combatant. And I will tell you, Boris, I've seen the Office of Legal Memorandum that is classified, that is the basis for calling these boats combatant boats, that we are an armed conflict. And I am deeply dissatisfied.

I disagree strongly and so would most legal experts with the idea that we are in an armed conflict here. So, I think we need full disclosure of that video of the Office of Legal Counsel memorandum that is now classified, so the American people can see it. And equally important, the order that was issued by Secretary Hegseth that led to these strikes. His order to totally destroy the boats and potentially kill everyone on them is at the root of this issue.

SANCHEZ: Admiral Bradley, at least according to our reporting, what Congressman Himes has told reporters, he told lawmakers in these briefings that Hegseth did not issue a kill them all order. And he said that survivors were attempting to regroup and continue their mission. Senator Cotton described them as trying to flip the boat back over. Does any of that in your mind, exonerate Secretary Hegseth?

BLUMENTHAL: We need to know the order that Secretary Hegseth issued that led to Admiral Bradley issuing his order. And the point here is that ultimately, Secretary Hegseth is responsible. He's accountable. He was involved. He may have said he wasn't in the room, but he was in the loop and he bears ultimate responsibility. I've said he should resign. And the most recent report dealing with the conduct, so-called Signal Gate report issued just today, adds further reason because it shows he was endangering troops by using a non-secure, non-public means of communication, his personal cell phone, to disclose very sensitive and significant facts about an ongoing or upcoming raid by American pilots on the Houthis. So, I think there is a real question about responsibility here.

SANCHEZ: I do want to ask you about that Inspector General's report, but staying with the double-tap strike, I, I read that you suggested there could potentially be a destruction of records, effectively a cover-up of what happened. I wonder what makes you believe that and what your message would be to Chairman Wicker on Senate Armed Services about how to prevent that and get the important documentation and perhaps even the video released?

BLUMENTHAL: That's a key question, Boris. And my point is twofold. Number one, as I've said, there ought to be full disclosure so the American public can know what's on the video, what documents show about the orders that were issued, where responsibility and accountability should lie. So, why are they concealing these records? Why are they hiding the video from the American people? And why not produce it all at once rather than the drip by drip kind of disclosure that we're having right now?

But second, I'm fearful about the destruction of documents because as a former prosecutor, I know stuff gets lost, even in the military, or maybe especially in the military. So, we need to make sure that those videos, all of them, are preserved on all of the strikes that whatever the records, transmissions of oral orders, because Secretary Hegseth reportedly issued not just a written order, but also an oral command. We need to have the transcriptions and communications because I want to make sure that they're available to the American people and to our Committee, because ultimately we have to hold these officials accountable.

SANCHEZ: And so on that Signal Gate IG report, it does state that Secretary Hegseth didn't follow regular process by using his personal device on a non-government app.

[14:25:00]

Yet, Chairman Wicker says it does show that the secretary acted within his authority in his communications. I wonder if you agree with that assessment or if you think Republicans are giving the secretary a pass.

BLUMENTHAL: I think that in effect, absolving Secretary Hegseth of any violation of rules gives him a pass, because let's review clearly what happened here. He used his personal cell phone with the Signal app, which is non-secure. It's non-permitted for the transmission of classified information. Secretary Hegseth says, well, I declassified it on my own initiative, unilaterally. But here's what really happened.

Secretary Hegseth talked about the targets that American pilots were going to hit just hours later, targets that were manned by Houthi anti-aircraft gunners, who have some of the most sophisticated weaponry by virtue of Iran providing it. And they were ready to go after those American pilots if they had been told some of this classified information about what the targets were, how long the pilots were going to be over those targets, and what they were planning to do, in effect the war plans.

Now, I've talked to some of these pilots and I can tell you that going over the Houthi targets are challenging and that pilots would've been absolutely aghast if they'd known that Secretary Hegseth was disclosing this kind of information on a non-secure platform. So, we need to look at the public responsibility here. Put aside all the technical details, whether it was classified or not, it was highly sensitive. It put our American pilots at severe risk. It endangered American servicemen for Secretary Hegseth to be disclosing, as he did, this kind of information.

And frankly, anyone else in the Department of Defense doing it would've been disciplined, perhaps prosecuted. And the element of surprise was so critical for these pilots, that discipline against anyone else would've been well warranted. It's only because Secretary Hegseth is at the very top of the command that he will not be disciplined in this way.

SANCHEZ: Senator Richard Blumenthal, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you sharing your time and perspective.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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