A s the Democrat-led committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 begins its public hearings, the person who planted pipe bombs the night before outside both the Republican and Democratic national committee headquarters in Washington remains unknown and at large.

Now, almost a year and a half since the incident, the Washington Examiner learned that a top FBI official said last month that the bureau could not provide any information about the possible use of confidential human sources to solve the case. The FBI official said the bureau had carried out over 1,000 interviews, compiled just under 40,000 videos, and analyzed roughly 450 tips. The bureau also said solving the mystery continues to be a top priority for the FBI, as well as for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and the Capitol Police.

An FBI spokesperson told the Washington Examiner this week only that “the most current information on this investigation can be found on the pipe bomb website.”

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An ATF spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that “the FBI is the lead on this” and referred questions to the bureau. An MPD spokesperson said the department “continues to assist our federal partners in this case. This case remains under active investigation.” When asked for comment, the Capitol Police said: "The USCP has been working closely with the FBI, which is the lead agency for the ongoing investigation. For updates on the case, please contact the FBI directly."

The dual bomb threats were neutralized by authorities on Jan. 5, 2021, but the identity of the suspect remains one of the biggest mysteries stemming from the events surrounding the Capitol riot. One pipe bomb was placed in an alley behind the RNC headquarters, while the other was placed next to a park bench near the DNC headquarters. The bomb behind the RNC was discovered at 12:45 p.m. and the one outside the DNC some 22 minutes later on the day of the Capitol riot.

The Justice Department says that more than 800 defendants have been arrested in relation to the Capitol riot, including over 250 defendants charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers. But the FBI says it hasn’t figured out who the attempted pipe bomber was.

Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray in March saying that a "whistleblower disclosure" revealed that the FBI’s Washington Field Office asked FBI field offices the month before to canvass all confidential human sources nationwide for relevant information related to the pipe bombs.

Jordan also said the FBI had failed to "sufficiently answer questions" posed by a fellow Republican congressman back in September regarding the status of the investigation. Jordan said the bureau explained it was "exclusively providing information to the partisan Democrat-led Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021.”

The bureau renewed its public push for answers on the pipe bomber around the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot. An FBI webpage features a host of details about the suspect, including multiple videos of the would-be bomber and a map of the route that the person took the night of Jan. 5.

In January of this year, it emerged that Vice President Kamala Harris was inside the DNC headquarters on Jan. 6 when the nearby pipe bomb was discovered, raising questions about security. She was a senator and the vice president-elect at the time.

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, wrote a letter to the Secret Service in February seeking answers about the "potential lapse in security" and wanted the Secret Service to answer when it conducted its sweep of the DNC before Harris’s arrival, which specific areas were swept, and why the Secret Service didn’t discover the bomb.

In an odd twist late last year, the Justice Department began correcting court filings related to the Capitol riot, conceding that prior assertions of Harris being present when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol complex were untrue.

Secret Service Director James Murray replied to Johnson in March by declining to provide any answers.

“The events of January 6, 2021, including the Secret Service protective operations on that day that you referenced in your letter, are currently the subject of reviews by Congress and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General," Murray wrote. "The Secret Service continues to provide information in a timely manner in response to Congressional committee and OIG requests with regard to those ongoing reviews.”

Murray said he believed the information “will be available for your review once their investigations are completed.”

Johnson told the Washington Examiner: “Secret Service failed to provide any answers to my questions regarding the pipe bomb reportedly located near the DNC headquarters on January 6, 2021. In order to have a full account of the security failures on January 6, the Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, and other law-enforcement entities must be fully responsive and transparent to all Congressional inquiries.”

The FBI has asked the public for assistance in the investigation and released videos showing the suspect wearing a gray hoodie, a face mask, gloves, and black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo, carrying a bag, and strolling through the Capitol Hill neighborhood on the evening of Jan. 5. A day later, rioters made it into the Capitol, where the process of certifying now-President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory over then-President Donald Trump was disrupted.

The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification or arrest of the pipe bomb suspect in early January 2021. The reward increased to $75,000, then to $100,000.

The FBI tweeted in March and April that it was looking for tips from the public.

In testimony before the House in June 2021, Wray said the FBI is "aggressively investigating" the placement of the pipe bombs. When asked if he would commit to releasing all of the relevant footage the bureau possesses, Wray demurred, saying: “I’m very careful about making sure that we protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation.”

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The bureau said that the components of the Jan. 5 pipe bomb devices included 1-by-8-inch threaded, galvanized pipes, a kitchen timer, and homemade black powder. It has been widely speculated that the pipe bombs were planted in connection with the Capitol riot the next day, but that has not been proven.

“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. … I think there was a significant coordination with this attack," former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified to Congress in February 2021.

Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton told the House in May 2021: “Invariably, when there’s an incident, police officers swarm. … If those pipe bombs were intended to be a diversion, it worked.”