FBI releases new video, information in hunt for Jan. 6 pipe bomber

The FBI has released new information and video of the individual who planted pipe bombs outside the headquarters of both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee on the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the bureau announced Thursday, after nearly four years of investigation that has led to little in the way of substantive leads about the suspect's identity.

A video compilation produced by the FBI shows a new angle of the suspect placing one of the pipe bombs outside of the DNC headquarters just blocks from the Capitol, as well as an enhanced map showing the route the suspect walked that evening.

The video further includes a graphic showing the FBI's estimate of the suspect's height -- which agents have calculated is 5 feet 7 inches, and animation showing the specific pair of Nike shoes the person was wearing.

"We recognize that it's been nearly four years since we started investigating this case, and we have been helped considerably by tips from the public," FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg said in an interview with ABC News. "Those tips have helped us further the investigation, but they have not, as of yet, allowed us to identify the suspect. But over the course of four years, allegiances can change, and people might have information they didn't think was important in the past, and that's why we are releasing new footage."

The FBI currently has a reward of $500,000 for anyone who provides information leading to the identification and arrest of the suspect, which they can submit over phone at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.

In a statement accompanying the video release Thursday, Sundberg revealed further information detailing the expansive nature of the years-long probe led by the Washington Field Office.

"Over the past four years, a dedicated team of FBI agents, analysts, data scientists, and law enforcement partners has visited more than 1,200 residences and businesses, conducted more than 1,000 interviews, reviewed approximately 39,000 video files, and assessed more than 600 tips about who may have placed pipe bombs on Capitol Hill in January 2021," Sundberg said.

But despite the bureau's efforts, there has been little in the way of specific identifying details uncovered about the pipe bomber, including a conclusive answer on the gender of the suspect.

Sundberg pointed to a series of factors that he said have proved to complicate investigators' efforts to identify the suspected bomber.

Despite extensive reviews of hours of CCTV footage, the suspect remained completely covered up wearing a hood, mask and gloves.

Interviews with residents along the path the suspect walked also have provided little in the way of leads, Sundberg said, because given the ongoing pandemic and the time of year "there was nothing to alert them to something being out of place" with someone walking the streets in a mask.

The discovery of the pipe bombs sent law enforcement scrambling just as a mob of President-elect Trump's supporters were laying siege to the U.S. Capitol.

An extensive examination of the devices conducted by FBI analysts at Quantico determined the pipe bombs were viable and, if they had detonated, "could have caused serious bodily injury or death," Sundberg told ABC News.

Investigations by both the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General, as well as Republicans on the House Oversight Committee later revealed that both former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris -- then the Vice President-elect — in separate instances passed within just feet of the bomb placed outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

Despite the challenges investigators have faced, Sundberg told ABC News the FBI has "a long memory for these things and a long reach," and he's still confident that the suspect could ultimately be tracked down and arrested.

"I think we will find this person. I absolutely have hope of that," Sundberg said. "I am sure that there is someone, probably multiple people who know this suspect, or know about this suspect, or have enough suspicion that they might provide enough information to the FBI that we can figure out who the suspect is."