Once again, the left’s favorite narrative just collapsed under the weight of facts. The media tried to frame the alleged J6 pipe bomber as a Trump supporter, and asserted that President Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen motivated him. It was a dubious claim to begin with, and we here at PJ Media questioned it immediately. It turns out we were right. That claim has been debunked.
Brian Cole, a 30-year-old from Virginia, stands accused of planting pipe bombs near Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2021, outside the DNC and RNC headquarters. The devices, made from galvanized pipes, kitchen timers, and homemade black powder, never detonated. After spending four years as a cold case, the Trump administration finally tracked down the suspect. Rather than let the Trump administration take the W, the media smelled an opportunity to falsely tie the crime to Trump, and went all in.
On Friday morning, the usual suspects in the legacy media rolled out a narrative in perfect sync. MSNOW, citing unnamed sources, claimed Cole told the FBI he is a Trump supporter who “believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election” and held anarchist views.
MS NOW 🙄
— Joni Job (@jj_talking) December 5, 2025
BREAKING: Pipe bomb suspect confessed to planting bombs, indicated support for Trump 😂 sources say pic.twitter.com/vhRrZRL2Ka
BREAKING: Reports indicate that Brian Cole Jr. has confessed that he planted the bombs and has indicated he supported President Trump according to MSNow. pic.twitter.com/jLLBkm5wfs
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) December 5, 2025
Even Fox News parroted those claims with barely a hint of skepticism. The storyline wrote itself: dangerous Trump voter, election denier, domestic terrorist. Exactly what the left wants Americans to associate with the MAGA movement and, by extension, with President Trump.
The problem with this narrative was that it was based entirely on anonymous sources, just “people familiar with the matter” whispering into the ears of reporters who are more than happy to repeat anything that supports their preferred storyline. This did not slow them down. Left-wing influencers and legacy outlets pounced anyway, reporting the Trump-supporter angle as a settled fact.
🚨BREAKING: Multiple sources have told CBS News that the alleged Jan 6 pipe bomber is a Trump supporter. He also told police he believes Trump’s BS claim that the 2020 election wasn’t fair. MAGA’s narrative just fell apart again.
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) December 5, 2025
It turns out the left's narrative is what really just fell apart.
How do we know? Well, Cole’s family spoke up, and the legacy media’s shiny narrative started to crumble. Cole’s grandmother, Loretta, says he has no party affiliation, never votes, dislikes both parties, and shows no interest in politics at all.
Brian Cole confessed and told his FBI interrogators that he is a Trump supporter and holds anarchist views, MSNOW reported citing unnamed sources.
But Loretta, his grandmother, said Cole has no party affiliation and never votes.
Rather, he keeps to himself, living in his mother’s basement in Woodbridge, Virginia, where he’s been grieving the loss of his beloved pet chihuahua, while working a data entry job for his family’s bail bonds business.
‘He’s not politically affiliated with anything,’ the grandmother told the Daily Mail during an interview at her home in Gainesville, Virginia. 'He has no social media contacts. He’s never online going back and forth with politics or anything like that. He says he don’t like either party.
'He’s borderline autistic,’ she added. 'He’s slow. He may be 30, but he’s got the mind of a 16-year-old. That’s why we’re thinking - What the hell? What’s going on?’
Loretta and the rest of the family say they were stunned when FBI SWAT teams raided their home and his office. They insist they do not believe he could have carried out a terrorist attack, even though they acknowledge that authorities claim to have substantial evidence. Meanwhile, surveillance footage and maps released by authorities show the suspect’s route and actions as he placed the devices near the DNC and RNC buildings.
The claim that Cole was a Trump supporter never made any sense. The Daily Wire reported Thursday evening that Cole comes from a family deeply entrenched in left-wing activism. That does not fit the script. The left needs a MAGA villain, not another disturbed, apolitical drifter with a progressive orbit. So they bury that detail and push the anonymous, unverified Trump angle instead.
This is not an isolated mistake. In September, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, media voices rushed to insinuate that his killer had MAGA ties. They floated it long enough for the impression to form, then moved on when it did not hold up. There were similar attempts to suggest that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who tried to assassinate President Trump last year, was actually a Trump supporter. The pattern is obvious. Whenever violence occurs in a political context, they reach first for “right-wing,” “MAGA,” “Trump supporter,” and they run with it even when the facts don’t support it.
For our VIPs: Media Gaslighting on Political Violence Continues Because It Works
We’ve seen this play out so many times now. The left jumps to pin every act of political violence on Trump supporters, locking in a first impression to their impressionable followers who will never stop believing it. The Cole case fit the mold. Anonymous claims about supposed pro-Trump motives spread everywhere, and you can bet that they will ignore what Cole’s own family says.
This is engineered messaging from the same crowd that lectures the nation about “misinformation” while running the largest misinformation machine in America.
The left’s desperate J6 pipe bomber hoax just imploded. PJ Media called BS from day one. Support our efforts to challenge the legacy media by joining PJ Media VIP today. Help fuel our fight against fake news and unlock exclusive content that keeps you ahead. Use promo code FIGHT for 60% off—your support keeps us alive. Don’t let the liars win; back real journalism now.
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