FBI releases new video of suspect planting pipe bomb outside DNC in 2021 as report details shock security lapses

The FBI released new video Thursday of a suspect planting a pipe bomb outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 2021 — nearly four years after the harrowing incident as authorities continue to search for the perpetrator.

In an effort to bring attention back to the case, the agency also revealed a new detail about the masked, hooded suspect, pegging the person’s height at 6 feet 9 inches. The video is from January 5, 2021. It was one of two explosive devices that the suspect planted.

But even the suspect’s gender remains unknown. “Without being able to confirm the identity of the suspect, it is very difficult to definitively determine the motive,” said David Sundberg, assistant director of the bureau’s Washington field office. Investigators have still not been able to establish a clear connection to the attack on the Capitol that took place just blocks away.

“That’s why it would be difficult for us to say there is a link, even though we can’t say there isn’t a link,” he told the AP.

The renewed effort to find the bomb suspect comes after Hill investigators discovered that federal agents botched security checkpoints and failed to set up a security perimeter following the discovery of a pair of pipe bombs on Jan. 6.

These are just some of the errors in a blistering new report from the House Administration Committee.

The new 80-year report delves into the “serious and largely overlooked security failure on January 6”, including the “delayed” discovery of the bombs near the two party headquarters and the “chaotic response” once they were found.

It was a Good Samaritan who discovered the first bomb near the Republican Party’s Capitol Hill Club on January 6 as she left her house to do laundry, on a day when agencies were on alert for the counting of electoral votes in Congress – and then a mob of Donald Trump Trump supporters forced their way into the Capitol.

Investigation would later reveal that the bomb had been there since January 5 and had gone unnoticed. Four years later, the suspect is still at large.

Among just some of the shortcomings noted:

– Agents failed to identify the bomb near the DNC during security searches;

– Officers allowed traffic and pedestrians to cross ‘within one meter’ of the explosives;

– They allowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s motorcade to “drive through a bomb scene, endangering the safety of the Speaker;”

– And they allowed commuter trains to pass by the DNC bomb, “putting civilians in close proximity to one of the viable devices.”

The startling revelations come just days after the FBI said it had discovered the largest cache of explosives, including pipe bombs, in its history during a search of a Virginia farm near Norfolk. Authorities have not suggested the cases are linked.

The report includes numerous images from security footage showing how many times pedestrians unknowingly walked within feet of a device that authorities said could have maimed or killed people.

The findings came in an interim staff report for the House Administration Committee, chaired by Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, and a meeting of a subcommittee on the judiciary chaired by Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.).

The report takes stock of threats against Republicans and Democrats on a day crucial to the Democratic transition of power, although Loudermilk took the opportunity to take a stab at the January 6 House committee, who investigated the events that day when Democrats were in charge.

“The FBI has no suspects in the J6 RNC/DNC pipe bombs, and the former Pelosi/Cheney J6 Select Committee failed to report on the many security failures surrounding the event during their ‘investigation,’” he wrote on X. “The report today highlights why the American people still deserve the whole truth.”

According to the report, numerous Secret Service agents were captured on video walking past the bomb while applying for identification

According to the FBI, the masked, hooded suspect is approximately 6 feet tall

The suspect is still on the run four years after the incident

An explosive device is shown outside the Republican National Committee office, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington

Capitol pipe bombs were planted the night before the riots

This image shows part of a “Seeking Information” notice issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding pipe bombs planted outside the offices of the Democratic and Republican National Committees on January 5, 2021, on the eve of the attack on the Capitol were planted in Washington. (FBI via AP)

That came on a day when President Joe Biden will honor former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) with a Presidential Citizens Medal.

The report also outlines several leads for the investigation, including a “person of interest” who searched the Internet for pipe bombs before they were discovered, someone who took photos behind the RNC and someone who stole a pair of Nike Air Max Speed ​​Turf sneakers owned.

But it says the FBI has declined to provide additional information about the leads.

The report, in the final hours of the 118th Congress, notes that the discovery of the bombs drew key personnel away from the Capitol during a critical period. Capitol Police identified a “very large group” of people approaching the Capitol that day. A Capitol Hill resident discovered a pipe bomb at 12:38 p.m. and told a security guard minutes later.

The report catalogs “a series of glaring safety and security failures,” starting with the failure to detect the bomb at the DNC through a sweep, which delayed its discovery.

‘Numerous over the course of the morning [U.S. Secret Service] Officers passed by the pipe bomb but were unable to identify it,” the report said. The bomb was located twenty feet from the DNC’s garage.

Harris remained in the building for more than an hour, leaving minutes after a Capitol Police officer discovered the device at 1:05 p.m.