DC pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. says the criminal charges against him should be tossed because he’s protected by President Trump’s “sweeping” Jan. 6 pardons.
Cole, 30, who is accused of planting bombs outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington DC the night before the Capitol Riot, says his entire case should be dismissed because of the January 2025 pardons meant to clear protesters.
“The pardon applies to Mr. Cole because his alleged conduct is inextricably tethered to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Cole’s lawyers wrote in papers filed in DC federal court Monday.
Defense attorneys assert that Trump’s pardons extend to the charges against Brian J. Cole Jr. because his alleged conduct is “inextricably tethered” to what happened at the Capitol on the following day. APThey asked federal Judge Amir Ali to throw out the case before trial.
Trump issued clemency on his first day back in office to roughly 1,500 people charged for allegedly violently storming the Capitol and halting the joint session of Congress certifying Joe Biden’s win over Trump. Trump was accused of inciting the rioters in part by claiming the election was stolen from him. The criminal cases were dropped against Trump after he was reelected to office.
Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons were meant for individuals involved in “events … at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
The Woodbridge, Va. man denied planting the homemade bombs in backpacks and leaving them near the political hubs.
But Cole’s defense lawyers argued the feds’ description of the allegations against him fit perfectly within the types of cases covered, including that he was allegedly “motivated by grievances about the 2020 presidential election,” that the harm was meant for the two parties headquarters on Capitol Hill and that the bombs were meant to go off on Jan. 6, the court papers argued.
Cole was arrested on charges that he placed two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the night before the riot.
Federal agents swarmed the Woodbridge, Va., home of Brian Cole Jr. Andrew Thomas – CNP for NY Post
Cole’s attorneys said the Justice Department’s own framing of the case has explicitly linked Cole’s alleged conduct on Jan. 5 to the events of Jan. 6 (seen above). APCole was arrested five years later by the Trump administration.
He is charged with transporting explosives across state lines with intent to kill, injure and cause damage as well as attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials. He’s pleaded not guilty.
He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of both counts.
On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences, and ordered the dismissal of all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack by a mob of his supporters. Getty Images
Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump scale the west wall of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. APHe was busted at his mom and dad’s home on Dec. 4, following a five-year investigation.
Cole allegedly copped to the crimes in an interview with investigators, telling them he was “bewildered” by conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election and he “snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse,” according to prosecutors.
His lawyers have said he has autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder and has no criminal history.
A spokesperson with the Department of Justice didn’t immediately return a rquest for comment.
With Post wires
