Two apparently "inoperable" pipe bombs were placed out in the open near the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters in Washington, D.C., one day ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol protests in 2021. The official narrative about the bomb plot has strained under scrutiny in the years since.

For starters, Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker confirmed in January — despite persistent hounding by the Biden Department of Justice — that the so-called passerby who discovered the pipe bomb at the DNC happened to be a United States Capitol Police plainclothes officer.

Extra to the officer's serendipitous discovery, which does not appear to have troubled then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' Secret Service detail at the time, the FBI has so far failed to get their man despite both possessing footage of the suspect who placed the so-called bombs and knowing his route.

In Baker's continued deep dive into the mysteries surrounding the pipe bomb plot, the investigative journalist has found even more troubling indications that something was off about the investigation from the outset, the USCP-controlled cameras in particular.

In his review of countless hours of closed-circuit TV video footage made available to him by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), Baker found that three USCP surveillance cameras customarily pointed at the DNC office building were strangely turned away from the scene just after the discovery of the alleged explosive device. The third camera appears to have similarly been moved off-target, although footage obtained by Blaze News indicates it nevertheless managed to capture an interesting portion of the so-called bomb's disposal.

Although the CCTV cameras were swiftly diverted, Baker noted that there was apparently not a similar sense of urgency amongst responding law enforcement agencies in halting train service along the nearby tracks or chasing away the children ambling past the scene, all ostensibly at risk were the bomb both real and viable.

The officer who first discovered the bomb — where just hours before, a bomb-sniffing dog reportedly smelt nothing of interest — seemed especially unfazed by his discovery.

"I've mentioned before a lackadaisical response from everyone, but the actual plainclothes Capitol Police officer walks first over to the MPD police vehicle and he's not in any hurry," Baker told Blaze News. "If I'm a cop and I see a pipe with a timer on it, I'm running [to notify the relevant authorities], you know what I mean?"

Baker noted the officer's pace didn't soon hasten afterward. Rather, the officer can be seen sauntering over to the Secret Service vehicle associated with Kamala Harris, inside the DNC at the time, to alert them without any fanfare. According to Baker, Harris and the Secret Service managed to finish their lunches before taking action.

"There's nothing logical about that situation," said Baker.

The failure to promptly shut down the train, the delay in warning off pedestrians, and the generally "lackadaisical response" from the plainclothes USCP officer, the MPD and the Secret Service, were altogether enough to pique Baker's suspicions; however, the USCP's timely videography choices prompted even more questions about whether there may have been cause not to take the so-called bombs seriously at the time — perhaps because they were recognizable fakes or due to some other foreknowledge.

After all, Baker told Blaze News that there would have been no good reason to divert the cameras "except that you're trying to protect a certain type of technology," but that explanation does not appear to hold up either as the bomb disposal equipment used was not secret or unique.

Senior sources within the USCP indicated that camera diversions from such a critical probe would necessarily have been on the orders of "command-level" officials.

On Jan. 6, that would have made for a short list: Chief Steven Sund; Sean Gallagher, then-acting chief of uniformed operations; and Yogananda Pittman, assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations.

Baker shortened the list down further, leaving just Gallagher or Pittman as Sund previously indicated he wasn't notified about the DNC pipe bomb until after its discovery and minutes after the camera diversions were executed.

The timeline of the Jan. 6 protests at the Capitol also suggests Sund was too busy at the time calling in reinforcements, "but Gallagher and Pittman were both monitoring what was going on ... and they were the only ones with actual command authority to tell somebody to move that away," said Baker.

Camera number 3173, fixed on a view of the DNC parking garage since at least Dec. 28, 2020, reportedly began to pan and zoom in on the position of the device just minutes after the plainclothes USCP officer casually walked over a heads-up to a MPD police vehicle, then over to the Secret Service. However, just after 1:40 p.m., the camera was remotely directed away from the scene and left in that position until at least midnight.

Another camera, identified by the Epoch Times' Joe Hanneman, had an excellent bird's eye view from the rooftop of the nearby Fairchild Building of the scene prior to the device's supposed destruction by the bomb squad. That camera, too, was deliberately turned away from the scene just at 1:44 p.m. until the conclusion of the initial investigation and the bomb's destruction.

Pressed to speculate, Baker told Blaze News, "I believe somebody knew that these devices were inert, that these were not viable devices, and they did not want cameras on that scene."

Footage reviewed by Baker and obtained by Blaze News from a third camera further indicates an attempt to hide the investigation from public consumption. However, unlike the other two cameras, this one captured telling details about the so-called bomb's destruction.

Baker noted that the camera was "curiously not focused on the scene," even though when "panned out, it had the ability to see everything. In fact, from this camera, we actually see the motorcade go around to the other side of the building and take Kamala Harris away."

"At that camera position, we would be able to see the entire investigation. We'd be able to see the deployment of the robot. We'd be able to see the bomb crews. We'd be able to see the cleanup of the investigation afterwards," continued Baker. "But then suddenly, once again, this camera pulls into a very, very tight focus and you can't see the actual bomb."

Nevertheless, the camera appears to accidentally capture footage of the bomb squad's effort to destroy the so-called bomb.

"We see the robot suddenly come into frame at the far left of the screen and then we see the robot go over and pick up the bomb," said Baker.

Baker suspects that whoever was manning the camera likely forgot about it or "got distracted by the melee that was going on at the Capitol at the time," because the Metropolitan Police Department bomb squad robot can then be seen "clumsily" ditching the bomb against a curb instead of a bomb blast containment bin.

The so-called bomb can be seen breaking apart — apparently on account of a "bomb disposal water disruptor," which disarms explosive devices from a distance.

The rapid disintegration of the bomb absent an explosion is not confirmation that the bomb was unviable, said Baker. After all, that is precisely the outcome the water cannon is designed to achieve.

However, what the footage does appear to confirm is that the one good reason identified by former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin to hide an investigation from prying eyes — to protect a sensitive technique or classified technologies — was not satisfied. After all, the robot and water disruptor technology are widely known and taught.

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