The Justice Department pushed back on claims by the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside of the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the 2021 Jan. 6 Capitol riot, arguing that the charges against Brian Cole Jr. should not be dismissed and that his actions were not covered by President Trump’s sweeping pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters.
In court filings Friday, the Justice Department opposed a motion by Cole, whose legal team argued that the charges against Cole are “inextricably and demonstrably tethered” to the events of Jan. 6, 2021 and should be dismissed.
In March, Cole’s lawyers pointed to filings by federal prosecutors in the case that said Cole had told the FBI in an interview after his arrest that he had traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a 2020 election-related protest connected to “the same political controversy” that animated the Jan. 6 crowd.
Cole’s attorneys argued that even though the pipe bombs had been planted the night before the riot, Mr. Trump’s pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters applies to him, too.
The Justice Department says the pardon explicitly does not cover Cole’s alleged conduct.
Prosecutors wrote that the president’s proclamation expressly limited relief to individuals who had been “convicted of” or had a “pending indictment” for offenses related to the events at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“On January 20, 2025, the defendant belonged to neither category, and so the proclamation has no bearing on this case,” the Justice Department wrote.
Prosecutors said Cole’s Jan. 5 offenses “were not, as the proclamation required, ‘related to’ events at or near the United States Capitol ‘on January 6.'”
They wrote that even if the president’s proclamation “somehow could apply to this case,” the Justice Department’s opposing position “is entitled to deference as a reasonable interpretation taken by the Executive Branch agency expressly charged with administering the proclamation.”
The Justice Department added that when Mr. Trump issued the pardons on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025, “law enforcement had not identified the defendant, much less charged or convicted him, and the pipe bombs investigation proceeded unabated.”
Cole was charged last year with interstate transportation of explosives and malicious attempt to use explosives almost five years after the bombs were planted. The bombs did not detonate, but the FBI has said that they were viable.
Mr. Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, issued in the first hours of his return to the White House last year, granted relief to around 1,500 rioters accused or convicted of violations ranging from trespassing to assaulting police. The president wiped away criminal convictions for all but 14 of those convicted of Jan. 6-related offenses, and directed the Justice Department to seek to dismiss charges against those whose cases were still in the courts.
The order says the pardons apply to “offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Cole’s lawyers argued that the phrase “related to” could apply to offenses that did not take place on Jan. 6, 2021, as long as they were linked to the events of that day.
The Justice Department said that in Cole’s FBI interview, he told the agents questioning him that he had planted the bombs and said he “did not attend a protest at the United States Capitol on January 5 but rather traveled to D.C. to plant the bombs.”
“The defendant told the agents that ‘something just snapped’ after ‘watching everything, just everything getting worse,'” the Justice Department said. “The defendant wanted to do something ‘to the parties’ because ‘they were in charge,’ and he did not like either party.”
Prosecutors said Cole “expressly denied that his actions were directed toward the United States Congress or related to the proceedings scheduled to take place on January 6.”
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali has not scheduled a hearing to hear Cole’s motion as of Friday, but a status hearing is scheduled for April 21.
