Former top FBI official reveals 'unusual circumstance' is impeding investigation into Jan. 6 pipe bomber

Former senior FBI agent Steven D'Antuono told Congress an "unusual circumstance" prevented investigators from obtaining cell data belonging to the person who placed pipe bombs in Washington, D.C.

On Jan. 5, 2021, surveillance footage captured an individual placing pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee. The FBI never arrested the person responsible, nor have agents even publicly identified a person of interest.

Last week, D'Antuono told the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door meeting why investigators have hit so many roadblocks in the investigation.

D'Antuono, who served as assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, told lawmakers that investigators tried to use geofencing technology to identify the person caught on video. But they made a startling discovery: The data was "corrupted."

"We did a complete geofence. We have complete data. Not complete because there's some data that was corrupted by one of the providers," D'Antuono revealed, according to transcripts released by the House Oversight Committee.

D'Antuono claimed the data corruption was not done "purposely," though he did not explain how investigators came to that conclusion.

"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," he admitted. "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?"

Not having uncorrupted data, D'Antuono added, "is painful" for the FBI.

Shockingly, D'Antuono also told investigators that he was unsure whether the FBI had interviewed the people who discovered the pipe bombs.

The FBI is currently offering a reward of $500,000 for information leading to the arrest of the individual responsible for the pipe bombs. But unfortunately, according to Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, the FBI is not providing information to lawmakers about the bureau's investigation, including why, more than two years later, the bureau cannot even identify a possible suspect.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!