Federal agents Thursday arrested a suspect in Virginia on charges of having planted two pipe bombs near the Capitol the night before Jan. 6, 2021, after nearly five years of false leads and frustrated investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The suspect was described as a 30-year-old man from Prince William County, and his arrest could ultimately provide an answer to one of the most enduring mysteries arising from Jan. 6: Who planted the bombs on Capitol Hill outside the national headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic parties on the night before a congressional ceremony certifying that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election?

While neither device exploded, their discovery Jan. 6 added to the fear and confusion on a day when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, delaying the certification of Biden’s victory.

“This is a testament to the painstaking efforts of the career agents and prosecutors who have worked on this case for years,” said Gregory Rosen, a former prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington who once led the sprawling investigation into Jan. 6. “While we don’t know all the facts yet, we should be proud that the FBI has continued to investigate thoroughly.”

The bureau has redoubled its efforts several times in recent years to find the pipe bomber, circulating various video clips of the suspect wearing a mask, a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers. Agents also obtained a trove of location data from cellphones and digital advertising services, tried to find people who bought devices similar to those used in the making of the bombs and issued subpoenas to 18 vendors that sold the type of sneakers the suspect was wearing.

Conspiracy theories have often filled the void left by the lack of an arrest, many of them centered on the belief that the pipe bombs were put in place as part of an inside job by deep-state law enforcement and intelligence officials intended to discredit President Donald Trump and his supporters. Just weeks ago, The Blaze, a far-right news outlet founded by Glenn Beck, published an article claiming that the bomber was a former law enforcement official identified by a computer analysis of the way the person walked.

Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, pushed back hard against the Blaze report, saying the bureau’s investigation was continuing. Bongino has identified the pipe bomb investigation as one of the FBI’s top priorities. But agents had not taken anyone into custody in connection with the inquiry until Thursday morning.

It remained unclear what precise charges the suspect would eventually face in court. The break in the case was not based on new information but came after agents bore down yet again on their investigative files and discovered a new lead, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Trump, in one of his first official acts after returning to the White House this year, issued a grant of clemency to the nearly 1,600 rioters charged in connection with the Capitol attack. His clemency proclamation was extraordinarily broad, covering all defendants accused or convicted of “offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

It is possible that defense lawyers will ultimately try to argue that the placing of the pipe bombs should also be covered by Trump’s proclamation.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush/FBI via The New York Times
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