An undercover U.S. Capitol Police officer found a pipe bomb planted under a bench outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Jan. 6, 2021, and reported it to a Secret Service detail sitting in two vehicles just feet away, two recent media reports indicate.
The undercover officer’s role in the discovery of the pipe bomb, first reported on Jan. 17 by Steve Baker at Blaze Media, was confirmed by a Capitol Hill source familiar with the investigation.
“I can confirm that it was a plainclothes USCP officer that found the DNC bomb,” the source told The Epoch Times, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The person who discovered the DNC bomb was previously only described by authorities as a passerby.
An analysis of the discovery of the DNC pipe bomb published on Jan. 18 by Revolver.news said it took more than two minutes for the Secret Service detail protecting Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to visibly react to the presence of the bomb.
Ms. Harris was inside the DNC building at the time the bomb was discovered. The FBI later determined the bomb was planted the night of Jan. 5, along with a similar device left in an alley near the Republican National Committee.
A group of children were allowed to walk near the bench where the bomb sat after the undercover officer discovered the device, Revolver reported.
According to security video of the DNC released in June last year by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a man now identified by congressional investigators as the USCP officer approached an SUV owned by the Metropolitan Police Department just after 1:05 p.m. on Jan. 6.
The vehicle was parked in a driveway of the DNC building at the intersection of Canal Street Southeast and South Capitol Street Southeast in Washington.
After a few seconds, he walked to the other side of the vehicle and began speaking to someone in the passenger’s seat, the video shows. Then he walked to an adjacent dark SUV belonging to the Secret Service and spoke to someone in the driver’s seat, Revolver reported.
The undercover officer walked off camera back toward the park bench and the bomb at 1:06:34 p.m., the video shows.
Two occupants of the MPD vehicle exited the SUV at 1:07:25, and a third emerged 35 seconds later. The driver went back into the vehicle to retrieve a COVID mask.
The first indication on Capitol Police radio dispatch that the DNC bomb had been discovered came at 1:07 p.m., according to audio files obtained by The Epoch Times.
“987-Adam, I’m going to declare a 10-100 at the DNC as well,” an officer broadcast on the OPS2 radio channel. “Similar device as was found at the RNC as well. Advising the units on scene what’s going on.”
At 1:09 p.m., the security camera pivoted and zoomed in on the bench, indicating that the U.S. Capitol Police Command Center was aware of the bomb.
Children Walk Past
Still, nearly 40 seconds later, a group of children was allowed to walk right past the bench, feet from the bomb, the video shows.
It wasn’t until 1:10:53 that the dark SUV pulled out of the driveway and away from the potential blast radius. The MPD vehicle did the same nearly 20 seconds later.
A Capitol Police patrol car remained on South Capitol Street directly adjacent to the bomb until at least 1:12 p.m., the video shows.
These latest disclosures raise a number of questions about the handling of the second bomb discovery on Jan. 6.
In the nearly seven minutes after the undercover officer approached the Secret Service detail, the streets were not closed, the sidewalks were not cordoned off, and pedestrians were allowed to walk right past the bomb location, security video shows.
Agents walked back and forth on the driveway and sidewalk near the bomb, and one officer walked close enough to snap a photo of the device before waving at the other officers.
About 20 minutes earlier, a staff member at the Capitol Club on First Street Southeast told a Capitol Police traffic officer that he found what appeared to be a bomb in the alley behind the adjacent Republican National Committee.
“I had the head of security at the Republican Club come out to me and he has what appears to be an explosive in the back of the building,” the traffic officer broadcast. “Can you have some units respond?
“Sir, he just took a picture of it. It looks like an explosive device,” the officer broadcast.
Despite the passage of more than three years since the pipe bombs were discovered, the FBI has made little progress identifying the suspect who they say planted both devices between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. EST on Jan. 5, 2021.
A reward of up to $500,000 has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bomber.
“Although these bombs did not detonate, it is important to remember the suspect walked directly along residential and commercial areas in Capitol Hill just blocks from the U.S. Capitol with bombs that could have seriously injured or killed innocent bystanders,” the FBI wrote in an update on Jan. 4, 2024.
Mr. Massie thanked Revolver and Tucker Carlson on the social channel X “for reporting on the January 6th video that my staff and I discovered and worked diligently to get released to the public.”
Mr. Massie’s office told The Epoch Times the congressman would not have further comment.
The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Secret Service for comment on the pipe-bomb disclosures, but did not get a response before press time.
From The Epoch Times
