For five years, the FBI insisted the pipe bombs found near the Capitol on January 6 were “viable” explosives that could have detonated. It was a central piece of the narrative—proof that the day was a coordinated terrorist attack, not a protest that got out of hand.
One problem: according to an actual explosives expert, the devices couldn’t have exploded at all.
Brennan Phillips, a 20-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, just filed a report in federal court that demolishes the FBI’s claims. His conclusion is unambiguous: “The two suspected pipe bombs in question do not contain an explosive filler capable of causing an explosion.”
Not “unlikely to explode.” Not “low probability.” Incapable.
The Chemistry Doesn’t Work
Phillips examined the evidence and found the chemicals inside the devices weren’t properly constituted. Black powder requires a specific ratio: 75% potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal, and 10% sulfur. The materials need to be finely ground, properly mixed, pressed, and processed through multiple steps to become a functional explosive.
What was actually in these “bombs”? According to Phillips, photos of the lab samples show “mostly large white particles with some flecks of dark material, which is not visually consistent with Black Powder but is consistent with inadequate mixing in a bowl.”
Translation: someone dumped chemicals together without knowing how to make them work.
The FBI claims the suspect purchased sulfur dust and potassium nitrate. But there’s no record of any charcoal purchase—one of the three essential ingredients. The materials allegedly purchased also contained inert ingredients that would “blunt their effectiveness as components to make black powder.”
The Fusing System Didn’t Work Either
Even if the powder mixture had been correct, the devices still couldn’t have exploded. Phillips found that “neither device has a functional fuzing and firing system capable of igniting a flame-sensitive explosive filler.”
The setup used a single 9-volt battery attached to steel wool. According to Phillips’ testing and experience, this configuration “will not generate enough heat to ignite Black Powder.”
So we have: wrong chemical mixture, missing ingredients, improperly processed materials, and a fusing system that couldn’t ignite anything anyway. These weren’t bombs. They were props.
The Response That Made No Sense
This explains something that’s baffled investigators for years: why did law enforcement respond so casually to the “bombs” when they were discovered?
Standard protocol for a suspected pipe bomb requires immediate establishment of a blast perimeter, evacuation of nearby buildings, and closure of all roads within that perimeter. The FBI’s own guidelines recommend evacuation distance of more than 1,200 feet.
What actually happened at the DNC? Secret Service agents sat in their vehicles for more than two minutes after being notified, finishing their lunch. Agents then stood just feet from the device acting “nonchalantly.” A Capitol Police officer walked up and took a photograph of it.
Pedestrians continued walking past on the sidewalk, mere feet from the supposed bomb. Vehicle traffic continued on surrounding streets. Commuter trains kept rumbling over the nearby railroad trestle.
And Kamala Harris—who was inside the DNC building—wasn’t evacuated for ten minutes. When her motorcade finally left, it drove directly past the device.
Does that sound like the response to a viable explosive? Or does it sound like people who knew the threat wasn’t real?
The Questions Nobody Will Answer
Harris has never explained why she was at the DNC instead of the Capitol, where her vote was needed to certify the 2020 election. She’s never commented publicly on her “close call” with the bomb. Democrats never claimed it was an assassination attempt despite the supposed threat to the Vice President-elect’s life.
Almost like they knew it wasn’t actually dangerous.
The FBI has spent five years calling these devices viable explosives while apparently knowing—or at least having reason to know—they couldn’t actually explode. They’ve used the “pipe bombs” to paint January 6 as domestic terrorism while the evidence suggests something very different.
What It Means
Brian Cole Jr. sits in jail facing felony explosives charges for devices that an ATF veteran says weren’t capable of exploding. His defense team filed this report along with a motion to revoke his detention order.
But the implications go far beyond one defendant. If these weren’t real bombs, what were they? Who placed non-functional devices designed to look like explosives at strategic locations the day before January 6?
The FBI claims they still don’t know who planted them, despite extensive surveillance footage. Five years of investigation, and supposedly nothing.
An explosives expert just testified the bombs weren’t bombs. Law enforcement responded like they knew they weren’t bombs. And the woman supposedly targeted by one of them has never spoken about it.
Something doesn’t add up. And now there’s expert testimony explaining exactly what that something is.