Nancy Pelosi Passed By Jan. 6 DNC Pipe Bomb Before It Was Defused

On Jan. 6, 2021, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) motorcade came close to the pipe bomb planted outside the Democratic Party’s headquarters as supporters of President Donald Trump ransacked the Capitol building, according to new footage released by House Republicans.

Pelosi was being moved to safety after the angry mob breached security perimeters during the formal certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

In the new footage, first reported by The New York Times, two black SUVs can be seen approaching an intersection near the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

Pelosi’s driver slows down to briefly address someone outside the vehicle: “Is this all the way blocked off? We’re going to Fort McNair.”

It was 2:26 p.m., according to The New York Times. Police began dismantling the device at 2:12 p.m. and finished at 2:31 p.m., the outlet said. Pelosi reportedly came within a few hundred feet of the device.

Another pipe bomb was found that day outside the Republican National Committee building. One of the enduring mysteries of the Capitol attack is who was responsible for planting them.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told lawmakers in 2021 that he suspected the bombs were planted as a diversion, to lure limited law enforcement personnel away from the Capitol building.

“We were dealing with two pipe bombs that were specifically set right off the edge of our perimeter to, what I suspect, draw resources away,” Sund testified before Congress. “I think there was significant coordination with this attack.”

U.S. Capitol Police told The New York Times that the DNC device had already been rendered mostly inoperable by the time Pelosi rode by.

“Our bomb technicians did a great job following best practices to vent the pipe bomb, which released the pressure and vastly decreased the threat. Out of an abundance of caution, our technicians then also vented the other side of the pipe,” the agency said in a statement to HuffPost.

“Never forget that, at the end of that day, our officers, agents, technicians, and civilian support staff worked to ensure Congress could finish their business and none of our protectees were injured. Since then, our focus has been on implementing hundreds of improvements to ensure that dark day in American history is never repeated,” the statement said.

Pelosi was not the only prominent Democrat to come close to the bomb.

Vice President Kamala Harris came within 20 feet of it as she entered the DNC building via a ramp in an armored vehicle, according to a Department of Homeland Security report released earlier this month. She had not yet been sworn in, but was afforded Secret Service protection at the time.

Footage has continued to emerge in the years since the Jan. 6 attack that illustrates how close lawmakers were to danger that day, as Trump supporters called for physically harming figures such as Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence.

The new footage released by the Republican-led House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight came as part of their effort to shift blame for the Capitol attack away from Trump, who encouraged his followers to march to the Capitol.

Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, had been filming her mother for a documentary at the time of the attack that was eventually released on HBO; the House committee was able to obtain the footage from HBO as part of their investigations.

Nancy Pelosi’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.