Thomas Massie
Role at the time: U.S. Representative for Kentucky's 4th congressional district
Response to this claim
The FBI knew who planted the January 2021 pipe bombs but concealed that information.
“All of the people who took credit at the podium upon the arrest of Brian Cole Jr. are complicit, either through negligence or malfeasance. Mr. Cole is not the J5/J6 pipe bomber, and the identity of the actual perpetrator is being obscured.”
Massie's own post on X, with a photo of the officials who announced Cole's arrest in December 2025.
Why we used this label
Reference point: the accusation that FBI officials knew the bomber's identity and concealed it. Massie asserts that the real perpetrator's identity is being obscured and that the officials who announced the arrest, including FBI leaders, are complicit. That advances the concealment allegation, which this case labels Condemned, as with Bongino's January 2025 remark. We did not use Mixed or conditional because the words "negligence or malfeasance" leave the officials' motive open but not his conclusion that the identity is being hidden. Evidence: primary, Massie's own post on X.