Ronna McDaniel told Newsmax on Friday that federal officials failed for four years to identify the suspect accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, because the case didn't fit the preferred narrative after the events of Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
McDaniel, who was chair of the Republican National Committee at the time, told Newsmax's "Finnerty" with guest host Todd Starnes that the media and the Biden administration focused on portraying Republicans as dangerous and downplayed anything that contradicted that storyline.
Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Virginia reportedly has confessed to planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the RNC and Democratic National Committee that day.
He's facing federal explosives-related charges, including transporting explosive devices across state lines and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosives.
McDaniel said she was "pleased" that the Trump administration and FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and Attorney General Pam Bondi moved quickly to revive the investigation.
She contrasted that with what she described as a lack of urgency under former President Joe Biden.
"That's what we woke up to on Jan. 6, hearing that there was a bomb outside of the RNC," McDaniel said. She noted that she was in Florida for meetings while RNC staff were evacuated.
"The media didn't want to talk about it. The FBI didn't want to talk about it," she said.
"Why? Because it didn't fit the narrative — the narrative of radical, dangerous Republicans."
McDaniel said investigators possessed usable information early in the process but failed to act on it. She cited House testimony in which an FBI official said cellphone data related to the suspect had been corrupted.
"Now we're learning for the first time, not only was [the suspect's] cellphone pinging, they have a picture of the car. They could have solved this," she said.
"It’s not a new tip that solved this. So why was it sat on for four years?"
She also criticized the Democrat-led House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, saying its members ignored the pipe-bomb case despite subpoenaing her and reviewing her involvement in events surrounding that day.
"Not once was I asked about the pipe bomb," she said. "If you go through that report, my name is mentioned more times than the pipe bomb."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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