Tag: bombings

Ex-FBI explosives expert, famed whistleblower says bureau’s J6 pipe bombs lab analysis ‘a mess’

Aformer FBI scientist, explosives expert and respected whistleblower—who exposed forensic fraud at the bureau’s national laboratory—says the Jan. 6 pipe bombs don’t look like they were made to explode and the FBI’s original lab analysis needs to be probed by Director Kash Patel and Congress. 

“Frankly, this report is a mess,” Fred Whitehurst, the first successful FBI whistleblower in history, told the John Solomon Reports podcast.

Whitehurst’s landmark whistleblowing in the 1990s exposed forensic fraud at the FBI crime laboratory, which eventually subjected it to outside oversight for the first time. During his service at the FBI, he was regarded by the bureau as the foremost expert on explosives. He led the probe into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing during which he uncovered evidence that the FBI was manipulating forensic evidence. 

Just the News reported on Monday that the January 6 pipe bomb analysis conducted by the FBI’s explosives laboratory found the devices were filled with chemical building blocks of black powder, each was equipped with a 60-minute kitchen timer, and each had destructive potential. However, neither device exploded, and they were discovered about 16 hours after the FBI claimed they were planted outside both the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters. 

A look at the bombs’ explosive mixtures, fusing

But, Whitehurst says, the FBI analysis obscures what he believes is the true impression of the FBI’s explosives analysis, that neither bomb was “going to blow up.” 

“The materials—potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal—if they’re not in the right proportions, and I mean the right proportions, and I don’t see where anybody has told me that they are in the right proportion, they’re not going to blow up,” Whitehurst said. “You might as well have had a crock of flour in that pipe.”

“And so to say that it was … a destructive device, without knowing that. If they had known that, they would have … just definitely said it,” he added.

Whitehurst also raised questions about the pipe bombs’ reported “fusing system,” which utilized bunches of steel wool in each device. The explosives expert said that using that amount of material would likely render the devices inoperable. 

“The reason you use steel wool, at least one or two little strands of it, is because the circuit going through the larger wires doesn’t really heat them. But, when you’ve got that same voltage across a small wire, you got the same current you’re putting through it, it heats it up, and it catches, you know, catches on fire—it gets it closed,” Whitehurst said. 

“But, what I’m seeing in the pictures is, is this wad of steel wool,” he continued. “There’s enough steel wool there… all it’s going to do at the most is warm that steel wool. It’s not, you know, from my doing that… it’s not going to glow at all. It’s just going to get a little bit warm.” 

“So the device that they put there, the pictures they show me, that’s not going to be a fuse,” he concluded.  

Both devices never exploded and were discovered about 16 hours after the FBI claimed they were planted outside both major party headquarters. 

The document package turned over by Patel to the House Judiciary Committee and its special Jan. 6 investigative subcommittee also raised significant new questions about the FBI’s original timeline, Just the News reported on Monday. 

You can read the FBI’s pipe bomb analysis below:

File

FBILabAnalysisJ6PipeBombs.pdf

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Training exercise or police diversion? Evidence leads Congress to explore new J6 pipe bomb theories

Tevidence obtained by Congress in its quest to unravel the mysteries of Jan. 6 has led the panel leading the investigation to consider that the pipe bombs planted at both the Republican and Democratic National Committees may have been part of an undisclosed training exercise, Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., told Just the News. 

Additionally, new documents raise questions about how valuable cellular phone location data from the days leading up to Jan. 6 — key data that investigators needed for their work — was purged from an AT&T and government system despite a preservation order from the FBI.  

Chairman Loudermilk says the evidence from the FBI’s pipe bomb analysis, AT&T’s response to the data request, and a stunning coincidence are leading his panel to consider alternative theories about one of the enduring mysteries of that day. 

The details do not add up

Just the News reported on Monday that the pipe bomb analysis conducted by an FBI laboratory found the devices were filled with chemical building blocks of black powder, each was equipped with a 60-minute kitchen timer, and each had destructive potential. However, neither device exploded and they were discovered about 16 hours after the FBI claimed they were planted outside both major party headquarters.

To Loudermilk, these details do not add up.   

“I’m not buying the story anymore that they were there on the fifth,” Loudermilk told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Monday.  

“I believe that they were put out on the sixth at this point. This is the theory that we’re going on, especially since the lady that found them said there were still 20 minutes left on the timer when they were placed there,” said Loudermilk.  

“The other thing is, were there enough…was there enough explosives in the devices to actually cause a massive explosion? That’s one of the things we’re looking at in these reports, which kind of leads us to believe maybe there wasn’t, but there definitely were explosives,” he added.

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FBI Releases January 6 Pipe Bomb Lab Report; Witness Statement on Kitchen Timer Attached to RNC Bomb Blows Up FBI’s Narrative

The FBI’s lab report on the so-called January 6 pipe bombs was released this weekend.

According to the pipe bomb lab report obtained by Just The News, the bombs had ‘destructive potential’ but never detonated.

Additionally, the witness who discovered the RNC pipe bomb said the kitchen timer attached to it only had 20 minutes left. This blows up the timeline narrative and suggests the RNC bomb was planted shortly before it was discovered.

The kitchen timers attached to both bombs only had a 60-minute timer.

“I am the person that discovered and alerted the guards to the pipe bomb found next to the RNC on January 6. I wanted to identify myself in case there are additional details I can provide that might be useful to the investigation,” the witness wrote to the FBI, according to Just The News.

“I did not see nor do I recognize the person of interest socialized in the media. However, I can confirm that the device must have been placed between 12pm-12:40pm EST, because it was not present when I went down to the area to start laundry (~12pm), but it was present when I returned to continue laundry (~12:40pm),” she told the FBI.

Just The News reported:

The unsolved case of two pipe bombs planted at the major political parties’ headquarters in Washington D.C. before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot is facing new mystery after FBI Director Kash Patel transmitted to Congress the lab analysis and interviews with a key witness who is challenging the official timeline of events.

The documents obtained by Just the News show that both bombs — one planted at the Democratic National Committee and the other at the Republican National Committee — were filled with chemical building blocks of black powder, each was equipped with a 60-minute kitchen timer, and each had destructive potential.

But most notably, the FBI laboratory report never uses the word “viable” to describe either bomb. Both devices never exploded and were discovered about 16 hours after the FBI claimed they were planted outside both major party headquarters.

“When properly assembled and initiated, an IED of this sort can cause property damage, bodily injury, or death,” the lab report stated. The report offered no clear explanation why the bombs — which it called “Improvised Explosive Devices” — did not detonate.

The FBI in January released *new* footage of the January 6 pipe bomber after Rep. Loudermilk released a report revealing the bureau engaged in a massive coverup operation.

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FBI lab report, contradictory witness statement inject fresh mystery in unsolved J6 pipe bomb case

The unsolved case of two pipe bombs planted at the major political parties’ headquarters in Washington D.C. before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot is facing new mystery after FBI Director Kash Patel transmitted to Congress the lab analysis and interviews with a key witness who is challenging the official timeline of events.

The documents obtained by Just the News show that both bombs — one planted at the Democratic National Committee and the other at the Republican National Committee — were filled with chemical building blocks of black powder, each was equipped with a 60-minute kitchen timer, and each had destructive potential.

But most notably, the FBI laboratory report never uses the word “viable” to describe either bomb. Both devices never exploded and were discovered about 16 hours after the FBI claimed they were planted outside both major party headquarters. 

“When properly assembled and initiated, an IED of this sort can cause property damage, bodily injury, or death,” the lab report stated. The report offered no clear explanation why the bombs — which it called “Improvised Explosive Devices” — did not detonate.

You can read that report here.

FBILabAnalysisJ6PipeBombs.pdf

Timeline of when bombs planted, discovered under review

The documents turned over by Patel to the House Judiciary Committee and its special Jan. 6 investigative subcommittee also raise questions about that timeline. They include interviews with a key witness who said the RNC device still had 20 minutes remaining on its timer when she discovered it the following day.

That witness raised the possibility that at least the RNC pipe bomb was planted just before it was discovered and not the night before as the FBI claimed.

The mystifying evidence now has congressional investigators exploring stunning new theories, including whether the bombs were made to look real but not to explode to create a diversion during the Jan. 6 protest or whether someone came back and set the timers later on one or both of the devices.

“The single greatest action that facilitated the protester’s ease of entry into the Capitol on January 6 was the placing of the pipe bombs, and the diversionary effect that had on security resources which would have otherwise been at the Capitol,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., the chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee that is investigating the law enforcement response to Jan. 6.

“After that day, the FBI was zealous in pursuing those trespassing at the Capitol, but quite lacking in their pursuit of whomever placed the pipe bombs,” he added. “One focus of this Committee will be highlighting the bizarre facts surrounding the pipe bomb case, hoping to bring much needed clarity on this subject to the American people.”

Lawmakers pilloried the FBI in a January report for the security failures surrounding the pipe bombs and the “chaotic response of federal law enforcement after their discovery,” Just the News previously reported. They also criticized the bureau for failing to provide “substantive updates” to Congress about the status of its investigation into the two bombs. 

The congressional panel also raised questions about how the FBI determined that both pipe bombs were “viable” explosive devices given that both were equipped with 60-minute kitchen timers, but were allegedly planted approximately 16 hours before they were discovered.

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35-Year-Old Domestic Terrorist Who Firebombed UC Berkeley and Oakland Federal Building Gets Nearly 20 Years in Prison — Admits He was Inspired by Hamas Attack

35‐year-old Casey Robert Goonan has been sentenced to 235 months — nearly 19.6 years — in federal prison for a string of firebombing attacks targeting UC Berkeley and the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland. The court formally designated him a “domestic terrorist.”

According to the plea agreement, Goonan admitted that in June 2024 he carried out a series of coordinated arsons and attempted firebombings.

On June 1, Goonan placed a bag containing six Molotov cocktails under the fuel tank of a marked University of California Police Department patrol car near the UC Berkeley campus, lit it, and fled. The vehicle caught fire.

On June 11, Goonan traveled to the Oakland federal building, carrying three Molotov cocktails, tried (by throwing rocks) to break windows so he could lob devices inside, but was thwarted by security. Instead, he placed the devices in a planter on the side of the building and lit them.

He also admitted to setting additional fires on the UC Berkeley campus on June 13 and June 16, 2024. In his own statements (as part of the plea), Goonan claimed the attacks were motivated by “despair over Gaza” and that he was inspired by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. He went further, calling on others to carry out property attacks on Bay Area campuses in solidarity with Palestine.

In addition to roughly 235 months (nearly 20 years) behind bars, the court ordered 15 years of supervised release and $94,267.51 in restitution (plus a special assessment).

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Portland Anarchists FIREBOMB Rapper Ice Cube’s Tour Bus After Reportedly Mistaking It for ICE Deportation Bus

Radical anarchists reportedly firebombed the tour bus of rapper Ice Cube, apparently confusing it for an ICE deportation vehicle.

The fire occurred early Tuesday morning, September 23, 2025, shortly after Ice Cube’s performance at the Moda Center on his “Truth to Power: 4 Decades of Attitude Tour.”

Video footage showed the tour bus with its front passenger tire on fire and heavy smoke rising from the vehicle parked near Southwest Broadway and Oak Street, according to KPTV.

Portland Fire & Rescue crews responded quickly, extinguishing the flames and ventilating the smoke. The incident left the bus with a shattered driver’s side window and visible scorch damage along its exterior.

Rick Graves, a spokesperson for Portland Fire & Rescue, confirmed that investigators are treating the incident as suspicious. No suspects have been identified.

Ice Cube’s team, through spokesperson Tresa Sanders of TreMedia, confirmed the bus belonged to the rapper and downplayed the attack as “random vandalism.”

“I’m not taking this incident as a personal attack. A coward like that would burn anybody’s property that was out there at the time.”

Authorities are still investigating who carried out the attack. But given Portland’s history, many believe the culprits are the same radical protest networks that have long targeted ICE facilities, federal buildings, and even local businesses.

The incident occurred just ahead of President Trump’s directive to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon, with authorization to use “full force” if necessary.

“At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

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Trans Georgia inmate who made bombs and mailed them to DOJ gets 80-year sentence

A person already in prison has been sentenced to 80 years in federal custody after authorities said the inmate built two bombs while behind bars and mailed them to a federal courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, and the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced the sentence for the inmate authorities identified as David Dwayne Cassady, 57, who was incarcerated in a state prison in Georgia when the devices were made, authorities said. The inmate pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted malicious use of explosive materials.

The inmate has severe anxiety and gender dysphoria, defense lawyer Tina Maddox wrote in a sentencing memo to the court. The crimes were “acts of desperation born out of unrelenting abuse, hopelessness, and mental distress,” Maddox wrote. The defendant is a transgender woman and now goes by the name Lena Noel Summerlin, the lawyer said in the July 8 court document.

The indictment says both bombs were made at a state prison in Tattnall County, Georgia, and mailed from the prison. The document does not detail how the bombs were built or where the materials were obtained.

The bombs were functional and had the capabilities to explode, a plea agreement states. The inmate admitted to mailing them “in retaliation for prison conditions,” it said.

Since the early 1990s, the inmate has been held in a variety of Georgia prisons after being convicted of more than a dozen crimes including kidnapping and aggravated sodomy, according to records from the Georgia Department of Corrections.

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Report: Bomb Threat at Home of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Officials are responding to a bomb threat at the home of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to multiple reports.

Newsmax reported that while “Police K-9 units have been deployed” to Kennedy’s home in Washington, D.C., “no explosive device has been found.”

Police K-9 units have been deployed, and the home and surrounding areas are being searched and cleared.

Officials say that, as of now, no explosive device has been found. The scene remains active while the investigation continues.

Andrew Leyden, a freelance reporter for the D.C. media, also reported in a post on X that there was reportedly a “bomb threat” at Kennedy’s Georgetown home.

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Man Arrested for Allegedly Plotting to Murder Republican New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte With Pipe Bombs

A 22 year-old man was arrested this week for allegedly plotting to kill New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte with pipe bombs.

The suspect, who is apparently not very smart, shared his plans with people on the internet and even with his female roommate, who spoke to police, telling them that he showed her the materials he planned to use for the explosive device or devices.

It’s amazing that this transpired just a week after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It shows that there are many people on the left who have no intention of slowing down the political violence.

Townhall reports:

New Hampshire Gov. Ayotte Targeted in Alleged Pipe Bomb Plot by 22-Year-Old

A 22-year-old has been arrested after he allegedly threatened to murder New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte using homemade pipe bombs.

Independent reporter Breanna Morello posted on X: “Investigators say Tristan Anderson boasted about his plans to his roommate on Snapchat, displaying the materials he planned to use.

Anderson allegedly posted anti-Semitic messages about an “Israel Deep State” before targeting Catholic Governor Kelly Ayotte with threats.

His social media included violent posts, like threatening to “kill” New Hampshire committee members he believed misrepresented residents.

His roommate reported to police that Anderson owned guns and showed her fireworks, metal tubes, and bags of nuts and bolts, which he allegedly planned to use to make pipe bombs.

Anderson allegedly texted a threat, media reported.

“I’m going to target the NH Mayor Kelly ayott,” the message reads. “With my weapon of mass destruction.”

This person has now ruined his life. Was it worth it?

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Pakistani Men Living in Utah Charged with Lighting Bomb Under FOX Van During Charlie Kirk Assassination Coverage Had ‘Is He Dead Yet?’ Flag Hanging Outside Their House

Two Arab men were arrested for terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges after allegedly lighting a bomb under a Fox 13 vehicle in Salt Lake City on Friday as the station was covering the assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk.

It is unclear at this point where the van was located when the bomb was placed on the vehicle. We will update this post when we learn more.

Outside the duo’s home was an upside-down American flag and a flag that read: “Is He Dead Yet?”

Adeeb Nasir, 58, and Adil Justice Ahme Nasir, 31, were arrested at their home in Magna, Utah, on Sunday.

It is unclear if the men are in a romantic relationship or blood relatives, but they appeared quite cozy together in a photo posted to social media.

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