J6 Pipe Bomb Breakthrough & Trump Brokers More Peace | 12.5.25

Summary

Podcast Summary: Morning Wire

Episode: J6 Pipe Bomb Breakthrough & Trump Brokers More Peace
Date: December 5, 2025
Hosts: John Bickley and Georgia Howe
Main Theme:
This episode of Morning Wire focuses on two breaking national news stories: (1) the long-awaited arrest in the January 6th pipe bomb case; and (2) former President Donald Trump brokering a landmark peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The podcast also explores the intensifying information war over U.S. immigration policy, detailing efforts by the Trump administration and DHS to counter viral stories and accusations emerging from Democratic lawmakers and legacy media.

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1. FBI Arrests J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect

Overview

Segment Begins: [03:34]
Five years after explosive devices were found outside the RNC and DNC headquarters on January 6, 2021, the FBI arrests a suspect, ending a high-profile investigation marred by mystery and controversy over investigative delays.

Key Discussion Points

• Breakthrough Details:

  • The arrest is credited to renewed investigative effort under the Trump administration:
    Dan Bongino: “According to the Department of Justice, it was the election of President Trump. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel hammered that point in a press conference.” [04:00]
  • No new tip or witness — just “diligent police work,” said officials.

• Suspect Identified:

  • Name: Brian Cole Jr., Woodbridge, Virginia (20 miles from DC).
  • Charges: Transportation of an explosive device in interstate commerce and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials.

• Investigative Details:

  • Law enforcement used credit card purchases (materials for bomb-making), cell phone data placing Cole Jr. at the scene, and license plate readers tracking his Nissan Sentra.
  • The search at Cole's home was ongoing at the time of reporting.

• Suspect’s Background & Narrative Twist:

  • Janine Pirro: “Cole Jr. worked for his father’s bail bonds company focused on getting illegal immigrants out of jail, and had sued Trump-era DHS over immigration. After losing a court case against DHS in late 2020, he allegedly planted pipe bombs weeks later.” [06:33]
  • The company and family have a history of progressive activism, including collaborations with figures like Benjamin Crump, adding a layer of political irony to evolving narratives about January 6 participants.

• Investigation Critique:

  • Cell phone data from the scene was available early, raising questions about the FBI’s lag in identifying and apprehending Cole Jr.

Notable Quotes

• Pam Bondi (paraphrased): “Let me be clear, there was no new tip, no new witness, just good diligent police and prosecutorial work...” [04:11]
• Dan Bongino: "You’re not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices, and walk off into the sunset. Not going to happen..." [05:15]
• Luke Rosiak: “His cell phone data was among those that were pinging the towers near the DNC and RNC the night of January 5th, which does raise some questions about why the FBI didn't catch this guy sooner...” [07:30]

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2. Trump Brokers Historic Peace Deal in Central Africa

Overview

Segment Begins: [08:48]
Donald Trump hosts Rwandan and Congolese leaders at the White House for the signing of the "Washington Accords," marking a ceasefire in one of Africa’s deadliest conflicts.

Key Discussion Points

• Deal Components:

  • Rwanda agrees to withdraw all troops from Congolese territory.
  • Both nations agree to cut all support for militia groups.
  • Trump facilitated negotiations and structured the deal to create new economic opportunities with U.S. companies.

• International Reception:

  • Trump invited regional leaders from Uganda, Kenya, Angola, Burundi, and others to witness the signing, aiming for wider African buy-in.

• Conflict Background & Stakes:

  • The decade-long conflict centered on militia violence, resource disputes, and political unrest.
  • Congo’s mineral wealth (cobalt, copper, rare earths) presents a lucrative economic incentive for peace.

• Economic Angle:

  • Trump offers business opportunities as part of the peace incentives:
    Trump: “We’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries... going to take out some of the rare earth and assets and pay, and everybody’s going to make a lot of money.” [11:12]

• Questions About Enforcement:

  • Skepticism remains as to whether militias will honor the ceasefire even as governments sign on.

Notable Quotes

• Rwandan/Congolese Leadership:
  • “No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines, but when the President saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it...” [10:21]
  • “... wish to thank... President Donald Trump... his administration... and the American people.” [10:38]
• Cabot Phillips: “Trump helped move the deal along by telling them, if you stop fighting, we’ll send a lot of business your way...” [10:38]

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3. Military Testifies on Caribbean Airstrikes

Overview

Segment Begins: [11:43]
Top military officials appear before Congress to address scrutiny over recent U.S. airstrikes on suspected narco boats in the Caribbean.

Key Discussion Points

• Closed-Door Testimony:
  • Admiral Frank Bradley, operation lead, denies allegations of executing survivors.
• Footage Dispute:
  • Senator Tom Cotton says video shows suspected drug smugglers “trying to flip a boat... to stay in the fight.” [12:20]
  • Democratic Rep. Jim Himes asserts it depicted “the US military attacking shipwrecked sailors.”
• Transparency:
  • Trump expresses willingness to release attack footage to bolster confidence in the mission’s legality and morality.

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4. The Digital War Over Immigration Narratives

Overview

Segment Begins: [13:30]
As the Trump administration intensifies its immigration crackdown, a parallel PR battle is waged against Democrats and legacy media.

Key Discussion Points

• Real-time Fact-Checking:

  • DHS disputes CBS anchor Margaret Brennan’s claim that 48% of detained illegal immigrants lack pending charges or orders, noting that ~70% have pending criminal charges or convictions.
  • DHS asks pointedly: “Does CBS really want us to release accused murderers and rapists back on the streets?” [14:41]

• Democrats’ Rhetoric:

  • Senator Jeff Merkley equates ICE arrests to “kidnapping” in a viral story about a student; DHS counters, clarifying the teen had attacked law enforcement and was an American citizen.
  • Senator Chris Van Hollen objects to the deportation of “beloved” nail salon owner Melissa Tran, omitting her criminal convictions and removal order since 2004.

• State-Level Pushback:

  • Governors including Gavin Newsom, Tim Walz, and Roy Cooper accuse federal agents of racial profiling and wrongful detention; DHS rebuts these as “completely ridiculous,” highlighting the states’ own failures to cooperate with federal authorities.

• Media’s Role:

  • Incidents are amplified by outlets like The New York Times, CNN, the AP, and The New Yorker—sometimes omitting crucial facts, e.g., a “shackled” deportee revealed to be a convicted murderer.

Notable Quotes

• Virginia Kruta: “They’ve glommed onto the stories of any illegal aliens that tug at the heartstrings—whether or not the story is true doesn’t appear to figure into their calculus...” [14:01]
• DHS Response to Media Claims: “That accusation is completely ridiculous...” [16:27]

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5. Memorable Moments & Tone

• Dan Bongino’s Determination:
  “There was no way he was getting away. We were going to track this person to the end of the earth.” [05:15]
• Trump’s Blunt Negotiation:
  “We’re going to take out some of the rare earth... and everybody’s going to make a lot of money.” [11:12]
• Ongoing Media Skepticism:
  Virginia Kruta’s breakdown repeatedly underscores the adversarial relationship between the Trump administration, Democrats, and the mainstream media, with real-time fact-checks central to the administration’s strategy.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Pipe Bomb Arrest Overview: [03:34]–[08:48]
• Trump’s Africa Peace Deal: [08:48]–[11:43]
• Congressional Testimony on Caribbean Airstrikes: [11:43]–[13:30]
• Immigration Narrative War: [13:30]–[17:43]

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Summary Takeaway

This episode delivers reporting on two major national stories: the dramatic conclusion of the January 6th pipe bomb investigation—now reframed by revelations about the suspect’s background—and an unprecedented diplomatic breakthrough by Donald Trump in Africa. Woven throughout is a sharp focus on media narratives and the credibility battles being waged over U.S. immigration enforcement, emphasizing the increasingly partisan fight for public trust and the administration’s use of rapid response and fact-checking to counteract the legacy press and opponents.

Tone:
Assertive, fact-first, and skeptical of legacy media spin and progressive narratives, with hosts and guests underscoring law enforcement’s diligence, Trump’s pragmatic diplomatic efforts, and the challenges of public persuasion in modern U.S. politics.

Transcript

[Mark]

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[John Bickley]

After nearly five years the fbi nabs a suspect linked to the j six pipe bombs near both the rnc and dnc headquarters he is.

[Dan Bongino]

Arrested for transportation transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce as well as the.

[Cabot Phillips]

Attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive.

[John Bickley]

Materials i'm daily wire executive editor john bickley it's friday december fifth this is morning wire.

President trump scores another major foreign policy win ending more than a decade of conflict between rwanda and the congo we discussed the importance of upholding.

[Janine Pirro]

This new agreement very detailed powerful agreement.

[John Bickley]

And the border fight goes digital as the left rolls out claims and viral stories dhs hits back with receipts they're.

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[John Bickley]

For waking up with morning wire stay tuned we have the news you need to know.

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[John Bickley]

Fbi has arrested a suspect in the january fifth twenty twenty one pipe bomb incident the arrest comes after five years of investigations into who planted two explosive devices outside the headquarters of the republican and democratic parties daily wire reporter tim pierce is here to talk about what we know after this major development in the case hey tim so this has been five years in the making first what led to this big breakthrough well.

[Dan Bongino]

According to the department of justice it was the election of president trump attorney general pam bondi and fbi director cash patel hammered that point in a press conference on the arrest yesterday here's bondi.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

The fbi along with us attorney pirro and all of our prosecutors have worked tirelessly for months sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the fbi with the biden administration for four long years let me be clear there was no new tip there was no new witness just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work working as a team the pipe.

[Dan Bongino]

Bomber seemed pretty inconspicuous the best images we had of him showed a person in a hoodie gloves and a mask that in itself wasn't that remarkable because of the pandemic going on and then after the bombs were planted it was another fifteen hours before they were found vice president kamala harris was actually in the dnc headquarters when that one was found yesterday officials gave a lot of credit to fbi deputy director dan bongino for chasing this down even before he was picked to help lead the fbi bongino was closely following this case here's bongino explaining why you're not going to.

[John Bickley]

Walk into our capital city put down two explosive devices and walk off in the sunset not going to happen we were going to track this person to the end of the earth there was no way he was getting away so the suspect has been identified as brian cole junior of woodbridge virginia that's about twenty miles from dc what else have.

[Dan Bongino]

We learned about him yeah us attorney janine pirro said cole will be charged with transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials officials were hesitant to give more specifics on that nor many other aspects of the investigation at the time of the press conference the search on cole's house hadn't even wrapped up yet but charging documents released on thursday gave a few more details law enforcement looked into cole's use of credit cards and saw he bought components consistent with the materials needed to make pipe bombs between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty they also looked at cole's cell phone data which showed him in the area of the rnc and the dnc headquarters on january fifth they also caught cole's car a twenty seventeen nissan sentra on a license plate reader about half a mile from where the bombs were placed now our own luke rosiak found out more about the alleged pipe bomber and what he found was quite stunning and it really cuts against a narratives going on here's rosiek the.

[Janine Pirro]

Daily wire can report that ryan cole junior who was arrested on thursday and charged with planting the pipe bombs outside of the dnc and rnc worked for his father who owned a bail bonds company focused on getting illegal immigrants out of jail in which had actually sued the trump administration's department of homeland security over immigration issues the company took those lawsuits all the way to the dc court of appeals which ruled against it in november twenty twenty just weeks later cole junior allegedly planted those pipe bombs later in that same year of twenty twenty one his father held a press conference alongside benjamin crump the left wing attorney who represented trayvon martin lamenting anti black racism his father called on the biden doj to go after a local prosecutor who had raised concerns about the bail bond business claiming that was discrimination a tennessee court later affirmed that the company had been rightly sanctioned because it broke rule now they caught this guy using cell phone data as well as credit card data license plate reader and other things his cell phone data was among those that were pinging the towers near the dnc and rnc the night of january fifth which does raise some questions about why the fbi didn't catch this guy sooner once again great reporting.

[John Bickley]

There from luke and from you tim thanks so much for coming on lots of questions now to be answered thanks.

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[John Bickley]

Com wired today president trump hosted african leaders thursday for the signing of yet another peace deal as military leaders testified before congress regarding recent airstrikes on drug boats in the caribbean daily wire senior editor cabot phillips has the latest from another packed day in washington hey cabot so let's start with this big peace deal in africa what unfolded there yeah.

[Cabot Phillips]

Donald trump has not been shy that he wants a nobel peace prize and says he deserves one and now he has added yet another feather to his foreign policy cap trump played host to leaders from rwanda and the democratic republic of congo two countries who have engaged in a bloody conflict for more than a decade now but on thursday after negotiations brokered by trump the two countries signed on to what they're calling the washington accords which will create as they called it a quote permanent ceasefire under the agreement rwanda will remove all of their troops from congolese territory and both sides will cut off all support to militia groups who have been operating there trump also invited leaders from other african countries like uganda kenya angola burundi and others more to witness the ceremony here's some of what we heard from the presidents of rwanda and congo specifically the.

[John Bickley]

Biggest vote of thanks goes to president donald trump no one was asking president trump to take up this task our region is far from the headlines but.

[Janine Pirro]

When the president saw the opportunity to.

[John Bickley]

Contribute to peace he immediately took it i would like to express quite solemnly our deep thanks to the president of the united states of america mister donald trump i would like to thank his administration and also wish to thank the.

[Cabot Phillips]

American people and look while president trump is certainly motivated by his desire to bring peace something he calls his favorite part of the job there are also economic incentives at play here as well despite being among the poorest countries on earth both congo and rwanda are home to enormous rare earth mineral deposits congo in particular is actually the world's largest producer of cobalt and second largest producer of copper so trump helped move the deal along basically by telling them if you stop the fighting we'll send a lot of business your way here he is speaking to new economic partnerships that were signed as part of this agreement.

[Janine Pirro]

We'Ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries and we're going to take out some of the rare earth and take out some of the assets and pay and everybody's going to make.

[Cabot Phillips]

A lot of money and it is worth noting this conflict includes a number of violent militia groups and there are some questions over whether those groups are going to abide by this deal but it's certainly noteworthy that the governments themselves have agreed to a ceasefire yeah indeed.

[John Bickley]

Let'S move over to the hill where top military officials appeared before congress a lot of eyes on this what did.

[Cabot Phillips]

They have to say yeah congress is moving full speed ahead on their investigation of the airstrikes against alleged drug boats in the caribbean on thursday they heard closed door testimony from among others admiral frank bradley he's the one who oversaw the operation in question and reportedly claimed that he was given no orders to kill survivors by pete hegseth that contradicts the now infamous washington post report members were also shown footage of the attack in question senator tom cotton a republican said it proved that there were two survivors who in his words were quote trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the us back over so they could stay in the fight democrat members as you can expect though had a very different take connecticut rep jim himes for example said it showed quote the united states military attacking shipwrecked sailors for his part president trump said that he would support making that footage public so seemingly he's confident the american people will have no issue with the military killing narco terrorists tabitha thanks so.

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[John Bickley]

Publicsafetyfirst as the trump administration ramps up its immigration crackdown following the attack in dc by a foreign national it's also fighting a pr battle against the democrats and legacy media outlets daily wire's senior editor virginia cruda joins us now with more on this narrative battle hey virginia so we've seen a steady stream of media stories promoted by democrats in the last few weeks and then the trump administration has been fact checking them in real time you've been documenting this back and forth how active a battle is.

[Mark]

This it's a full scale war kilmer abrego garcia was just the tip of the iceberg since the large scale deportations began democrats and media personalities have glommed onto the stories of any illegal aliens that tug at the heartstrings whether or not the story is true does not appear to figure into their calculus in fact a recent example is cbs news anchor margaret brennan she claimed that nearly half or forty eight percent of the illegal aliens currently being detained by ice are being held without charges were deportation orders but dhs told a very different story they fact checked the claim and said it was simply wrong and that about seventy percent of illegal aliens arrested have pending criminal charges or criminal convictions they then pressed the outlet asking does cbs really want us to release accused murderers and rapists back on the streets.

[John Bickley]

As we said at the top democrat lawmakers have been really hammering this topic what are we hearing from them well.

[Mark]

They'Re painting the administration as reckless and tyrannical which is to be expected a recent example is senator jeff merkley who actually referred to federal agents as kidnappers and parroted a story about a teen taken into custody at school but dhs pushed back on him as well saying that he was missing the facts this seventeen year old used his vehicle to violently attack ice and border patrol agents the agency posted they included a timeline of events that identified the teen as an american citizen but also identified him as a suspect who had allegedly attacked and impeded federal law enforcement officers another democrat senator chris van hollen he recently responded to the news that a nail salon owner in his state was set to be deported to vietnam he said melissa tran came here on a green card at age eleven she's since raised four kids started a business and is a beloved member of the hagerstown community he insisted but as dhs noted van hollen was omitting some pesky facts the nail salon owner in question had criminal convictions including grand larceny multiple counts of forgery and fraud in fact an immigration judge had issued her a final order of removal in two thousand four ice arrested her in may so those were.

[John Bickley]

Democrat senators making those claims we've also heard from a lot of governors gavin newsom tim walls come to mind is.

[Mark]

That correct absolutely they've been very vocal even north carolina governor roy cooper who is supposed to be more centrist has put his two cents in recently he didn't post a specific story but ran with his party's oft repeated claims that ice and dhs were racially profiling and sweeping up people based on what they look like he said that federal agents were picking up american citizens and people with no criminal records dhs assistant secretary trisha mclaughlin quickly fired back she said that the accusations of racial profiling were completely ridiculous and noted that cooper himself had failed to turn over more than one thousand four hundred violent criminal aliens in his own state to the proper.

[John Bickley]

Federal authorities now most of these allegations were made by citing dubious reports from legacy outlets which outlets seem to crop.

[Mark]

Up the most oh i bet you could guess the new york times cnn the associated press i do have this recent example for you the new yorker profiled a jamaican immigrant thusly orville etoria a jamaican national who'd lived in new york for nearly fifty years was shackled and put on an ice flight to eswatini it helped me imagine how the slaves might have felt going to another land in shackles and chains he said it was fox news correspondent bill mulugian who debunked that one he's a convicted murderer with a deportation order from a.

[John Bickley]

Federal immigration judge so a convicted murderer seems pretty hard to make the case for him virginia thanks so much for reporting absolutely anytime thanks for waking up with us and if you're listening to the show you can now watch the show free on daily wire plus we'll be back this evening with more news.

[Dan Bongino]

You need to know.

[Cabot Phillips]

And doug here.

[John Bickley]

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