Posted on 06/16/2023 6:02:06 AM PDT by MtnClimber
The FBI conducted a halfhearted inquiry, at best. Now we know why.
It remains the greatest unsolved mystery related to the events of January 6: Who placed pipe bombs near the headquarters of both the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee the night before?
Shortly before the joint session of Congress convened at 1 p.m. to debate the results of the 2020 Electoral College vote, a woman on her way to do some laundry looked down and spotted a device in an alley adjacent to the RNC building. Karlin Younger ran to notify security guards, who then called police. Law enforcement conducted a search of the area and located another device outside the DNC building.
Panic quickly ensued. “I just had to evacuate my office because of a pipe bomb reported outside,” Representative Elaine Luria (D-Va.) tweeted at 1:46 p.m. “I don’t recognize our country today and the members of Congress who have supported this anarchy do not deserve to represent their fellow Americans.”
“I’m sheltering in place in my office,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) tweeted at the same time. “The building next door has been evacuated. I can’t believe I have to write this.”
The media immediately suggested the explosives had been planted by someone loyal to the president; the New York Times noted in its breaking report that the bombs were found “just a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol, which Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed on Wednesday afternoon.”
Federal authorities promised a full-throated investigation. During a press conference on January 12, 2021, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin and Washington FBI Field Office chief Steven D’Antuono emphasized the seriousness of the pipe bomb threat. “They were real devices. They had explosive ignitors,” Sherwin told reporters. D’Antuono announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identity and arrest of the perpetrator. The FBI, D’Antuono warned, was “looking at all angles, every tool, every rock is being unturned” in pursuit of the bomber.
A few months later, D’Antuono made another desperate plea for the public’s help in his investigation and doubled the reward. “We know it can be a difficult decision to report information about family, friends, or coworkers but this is about protecting human life. We need your help to identify the individual responsible for placing these pipe bombs to ensure that they will not harm themselves or anyone else.”
But despite sophisticated surveillance tools including geofence warrants that were at D’Antuono’s disposal—methods the FBI continues to use to this day in its ongoing manhunt for January 6 protesters—the trail went cold. So, too, did the national news media’s interest in the story. The January 6 Select Committee completely ignored the pipe bomb threats, relegating the story to two mentions buried deep in the final report’s appendix.
D’Antuono’s bluster notwithstanding, his office conducted a halfhearted inquiry at best. And now the public knows why. During an interview with the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, D’Antuono disputed claims the bombs were planted to divert law enforcement presence away from the Capitol just before protesters assembled outside the building, a view commonly shared at the time.
Not only did the FBI fail to identify the individual, D’Antuono admitted the FBI does not even know the “gender” of the bomber. He also backtracked on numerous public statements insisting the devices were viable, indeed, deadly. Pressed by Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.) to explain how the bombs were operable considering the use of a one-hour kitchen timer attached to the metal tube, D’Antuono admitted that they couldn’t have detonated during January 6. “I don’t know when they were supposed to go off. Maybe they weren’t supposed to go off.”
In perhaps the most alarming portion of D’Antuono’s testimony, he revealed that the FBI does not have a complete account of cell phone use in the area on January 5, data that would easily result in tracking the perpetrator’s identity. In what Revolver News’ Darren Beattie described as “the dog ate the geofencing data” excuse, D’Antuono claimed data from one provider was “corrupted” and unusable.
“It just—unusual circumstance that we have corrupt data from one of the providers. I’m not sure—I can’t remember right now which one,” D’Antuono testified. “But for that day, which is awful because we don’t have that information to search. So could it have been that provider? Yeah, with our luck, you know, with this investigation it probably was, right. So maybe if we did have that—that data wasn’t corrupted—and it wasn’t purposely corrupted. To my knowledge, it wasn’t corrupted, you know, but that could have been good information that we don’t have, right. So that is painful for us to not to have that. So we looked at everything.”
And as if to ward off warranted skepticism about the idea that cell phone data tied to one of the animating moments of January 6 just happens not to exist, D’Antuono told the committee he did not “want any conspiracy theories” surrounding the conveniently missing records.
But, of course, D’Antuono does not need to fuel any “conspiracy theories” about the pipe bomb incident. Beattie has raised numerous questions about the FBI’s handling of the investigation, such as apparently doctored video of the suspect’s movements. It’s also unclear, according to D’Antuono’s testimony, whether the FBI interviewed the woman who first found the device near the RNC. As I reported last year, Younger worked at the time for an agency called FirstNet, a public-private partnership between AT&T and first responders. The month before the Capitol protest, FirstNet received a $92 million grant from the FBI—which is either a wacky coincidence or another way in which FBI surrogates participated in the events of January 6.
Surely with such a professional connection between his agency and Younger, D’Antuono easily could have invited her to answer a few questions. But somehow, his “no stone left unturned” investigation did not include a sit-down with the one individual responsible for finding the bomb and notifying police. Why not?
House Judiciary Committee chairman James Jordan (R-Ohio) wants answers to that and many other unanswered questions. Jordan is asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to explain why, 890 days after the FBI launched the investigation, his agency is still left empty-handed.
The answer, at this point, seems obvious: They want it to be.
It seems like the DemocRATs and the FIB wanted to make it look like a Capitol breach was an orchestrated event with a planned diversion that could be blamed on Trump and his supporters.
I thought it was because it occurred at night? /s
Who made that comment? I’m struggling to recall.
“Not only did the FBI fail to identify the individual, D’Antuono admitted the FBI does not even know the “gender” of the bomber.”
An odd comment again from fibby, considering that the blurry video I watched clearly showed a waddle and wide hips (female, probably black).
Where is the boom? Not seeing the boom.
The Keystone Kops obviously do not want to find the person who left the fake bombs.
Garland, I think.
Darren Beattie at Revolver.news had been on this like white on rice for a very long time. The whole situation is beyond suspicious.
Epps?
I think the boom is that they aren’t looking. They did not even question the person who spotted the RNC package.
The first thing …… stop thinking that EVERY bad guy has his cell phone on him, at all times.
Years ago, an organization called the Black Mafia Family was running almost all of the cocaine in Atlanta. Their personnel, after finding out how some were caught and prosecuted, would make a call then take the batteries out of their phones. That was at a time when that was possible.
Bad guys pay attention
Now, this is all BS. After watching Hawley tear apart a Dep Director, the whole thing needs to be gone. There’s no fixing it. Yes, there are some decent agents. But if you saw who they’re recruiting these past few years, you’d agree that it’s a failed entity.
The ONLY reason any of this is possible is because of who we elect.
STOP voting for these rat bastards. STOP voting for Graham, Thune, Cornyn, McCarthy, etc etc etc etc. they’re the ones that allow all of this.
the capital was cleared just as the certification hearing was getting started
the capitol was cleared because of the pipe bombs
when the hearing resumed it was under emergency procedures
under emergency procedures there can be no objections to the certifications
game set match
the pipe bombs were the justification/diversion needed to shut down objections
I was listening to Bongino yesterday (and other times on this subject) and he was talking about the Jan6 Bombs that were planted and found just in the right time.
What I don’t understand is WHY..... WHY are we not looking at who found these “bombs”(they weren’t even real bombs in that they were viable)
It seems to me that if you go right to these individuals that “found” the fake explosive devices then you might be able to piece together what really happened.
What am I saying?....... they were part of the plot.
I have not seen or heard of anyone talking about this yet it seems so logical.
You should keep in mind that You should keep in that while it is important that the person may or may not have had a cell phone, or may not have been using it during the commission of the crime, the bigger issues are:
Why have certain people not been investigated (the person who found the bomb) and,
How is it that the phone records obtained from all the providers in the entire area for days all around this event we’re available, except for this one slice of time in question regarding the location of someone dropping off the bomb?
Gee. One might almost think that it was a Jeffrey Epstein kind of event… Such as “well, we don’t know why the cameras weren’t running at that precise time that Epstein died in his cell”
You would think the the FBI knows the 'gender' of all the students at the FBI Academy in Quantico. But then, this is an administration that is not able to tell us what a woman is.
I think you might be right. I seem to recall watching a vid of his testimony, headlining after he let loose that little gem of an excuse.
Thanks!
And as if to ward off warranted skepticism about the idea that cell phone data tied to one of the animating moments of January 6 just happens not to exist, D’Antuono told the committee he did not “want any conspiracy theories” surrounding the conveniently missing records.
But, of course, D’Antuono does not need to fuel any “conspiracy theories” about the pipe bomb incident. Beattie has raised numerous questions about the FBI’s handling of the investigation, such as apparently doctored video of the suspect’s movements. It’s also unclear, according to D’Antuono’s testimony, whether the FBI interviewed the woman who first found the device near the RNC. As I reported last year, Younger worked at the time for an agency called FirstNet, a public-private partnership between AT&T and first responders. The month before the Capitol protest, FirstNet received a $92 million grant from the FBI—which is either a wacky coincidence or another way in which FBI surrogates participated in the events of January 6.
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