WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have taken into custody a person suspected of planting pipe bombs in Washington the night before the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, a Justice Department official and another source briefed on the matter said on Thursday.
The FBI released surveillance video, offered a $500,000 reward and received hundreds of tips in a years-long search for the suspect.
The footage, from January 5, 2021, showed an individual putting a bomb near a bench outside the Democratic National Committee building. The suspect placed another bomb at the Republican headquarters. Both sites are near the Capitol.
The bombs were discovered on the same day supporters of Donald Trump stormed Congress in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
Police deactivated the bombs and neither exploded.
In the January 6, 2021, melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past police barricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than $2.8 million in damage. Trump has promised to pardon at least some of the nearly 1,600 people who have been criminally charged for participating in the riot.
(Reporting by Jana Winter; Writing by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Scott Malone)
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