A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s pardons for individuals accused of unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, do not apply to Brian J. Cole Jr., a Virginia man charged with planting pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali refused to dismiss the case against Cole, stating that Trump’s pardons—issued to over 1,500 individuals on the first day of his second term—specifically applied only to protesters who entered the Capitol.
The judge noted that Cole had not been charged or convicted at the time of the pardons. He was arrested in early December after nearly five years of investigation into bombs planted near the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) buildings. Surveillance footage released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showed that Cole placed a backpack containing an explosive device next to a bench near the DNC headquarters at approximately 7:40 p.m. on January 5, 2021, followed by hiding a second device in bushes outside the RNC headquarters about 20 minutes later.
The explosives were constructed using a steel pipe, homemade black powder, kitchen timers, and hobby fuses typically used for fireworks.
Cole’s defense attorneys argued that his actions were “inextricably and demonstrably tethered” to events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They claimed he traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a protest concerning the outcome of the 2020 election.
In their written argument, defense counsel stated: “By the government’s own telling, this is exactly the kind of case that President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Presidential Pardon was invoked to reach.”
