New video of pipe bomb suspect released.

[Rev. Rye]

Regardless of what we know of the actual materials, according to the information at hand, they were considered live.

To quote the Washington Post article I linked to [bold mine, first paragraph added mainly for context]:

The bomb behind the RNC was discovered on Jan. 6 at around 12:45 p.m., about 90 minutes before rioters entered the Capitol. Resident Karlin Younger was on her way to do laundry when she spotted something unusual on the ground between a recycling bin and a rat trap. Younger said in an interview that she bent down to inspect the device, which was attached to what appeared to her to be a kitchen timer. The timer was set to 20 minutes, she said. She did not hear any ticking and could not tell if the timer was active. She alerted a nearby security guard, who she said inspected the device and then notified law enforcement.

The device was considered “live,” meaning it contained viable explosive material, according to Steven Blando, a spokesman for the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It was disarmed at the site, Blando told The Post.

Around 1:15 p.m., officials have said, the second bomb was discovered several blocks away next to a bench outside the DNC. It, too, was live and was disarmed on site, Blando said.

And, hey, for the sake of argument, let's suppose it really wouldn't do much damage if it actually blew up. Besides the fact that the FBI and ATF aren't likely to fuck around even with a dud bomb planted at a building, especially if it's at a politically sensitive place like the DNC or RNC headquarters, or that even the mere possession of a pipe bomb is a federal crime; just doing damage on their own probably wasn't the plan. It's fairly common for criminals to plant bombs at certain sites specifically to draw police attention away from the larger crime that's going to go down (say, a riot at the fucking Capitol), and, according to the article, former Capitol Chief of Police Steven Sund "has said he suspects the bombs were an intentional effort to draw officers away from the grounds of the Capitol." And the FBI speculates that it could also have been done "to “send a message” by targeting the nation’s two largest political parties."

And whether or not you think people are blowing this out of proportion, the FBI (at least according to the page I linked to last time) is offering a reward of $100k for information that leads to the capture of the guy who placed them at the RNC and DNC. If you think the FBI are blowing this out of proportion, be my bloody guest and tell them yourself.