A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s mass pardons for supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol do not extend to a Virginia man charged with planting pipe bombs near the national headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali refused to dismiss the case against Brian J. Cole Jr. on Monday, concluding that Trump’s pardons, issued on Jan. 20, 2025, explicitly applied only to individuals convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. Cole had not been charged at the time the pardons were granted, Ali noted.
Cole was arrested nearly a year after Trump’s clemency actions, accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the night before the Jan. 6 riot. The devices were discovered by law enforcement on Jan. 6 but did not detonate.
Prosecutors stated that Cole confessed after his arrest, telling FBI agents he felt "bewildered" by 2020 presidential election conspiracy theories and that "something just snapped." Investigators also used phone records and other evidence to identify him as a suspect.
Cole's attorneys had argued that his alleged actions were "inextricably and demonstrably tethered" to the events near the Capitol on Jan. 6, asserting that Trump's pardon was intended to cover such cases. Prosecutors countered that the pardon proclamation only applies to individuals who had been convicted of or had a pending indictment for Capitol riot-related crimes.
Ali, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, indicated that even if the proclamation could somehow apply, the Department of Justice's contrary position would be entitled to deference.
Trump, a Republican, promoted baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen. Supporters who attended his "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 6 joined the mob that attacked the Capitol, disrupting the congressional certification of Biden's electoral victory.
Cole is scheduled for a status hearing in his case on Wednesday. A trial date has not yet been set.