Justice Department Denies Pardon for Bomb Suspect Linked to Capitol Plot on Eve of Jan. 6

A Virginia man, accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. just one day before the January 6 Capitol Attack, claims he should be pardoned under President Donald Trump’s January 6 pardon proclamation. The Department of Justice, however, dismisses his assertion as “unavailing” and lacking in logic.

In a memorandum filed on Friday, the DOJ strongly refutes the March motion by Brian Cole Jr., the pipe bomb suspect, who seeks to have his case dismissed under Trump’s January 2025 pardon proclamation. The DOJ insists that even if the court were to find the proclamation applicable in this situation, the agency’s interpretation, responsible for enforcing the proclamation, remains consistent and reasonable.

Cole’s defense contends that his charges are “inextricably and demonstrably tethered” to the events of the January 6 Capitol riot, arguing for their dismissal. However, federal prosecutors provide several reasons to counter this argument, emphasizing that Trump’s proclamation clearly states that pardons are limited to “offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” They also highlight Cole’s alleged confession.

The DOJ clarifies that the proclamation explicitly applies only to those convicted or facing indictment for the specified offenses. While the January 6 events offer some factual context, Cole’s actions on January 5 are not considered “related to” the Capitol events on January 6, according to the proclamation’s terms.

Brian Cole, 30, from Woodbridge, was recently arrested and charged in the District of Columbia. He faces charges of transporting an explosive device across state lines with the intent to harm individuals or unlawfully damage property, as well as attempted malicious destruction using fire and explosives.

According to federal prosecutors, Cole drove his Nissan Sentra to Washington, D.C., by himself on Jan. 5, 2021, to plant at least two pipe bombs downtown “in the immediate vicinity” of the RNC and DNC headquarters. The improvised explosive devices had 60-minute timers, but failed to detonate. Cole allegedly said he planted them at night “because he did not want to kill people,” according to the DOJ.

Federal prosecutors say Cole learned how to make the bombs by playing video games. He allegedly admitted that he is a Trump supporter but does not like “either party” and wanted to go after the RNC and DNC because he was sick of election deniers being called “conspiracy theorists” and other “bad” things.

“The defendant felt that ‘the people up top,’ including ‘people on both sides, public figures,’ should not ‘ignore people’s grievances’ or call them ‘conspiracy theorists,’ ‘bad people,’ ‘Nazis,’ or ‘fascists,” according to a DOJ memorandum that was filed in support of pretrial detention.

“Instead, ‘if people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then . . . at the very least someone should address it,’” Cole allegedly told federal investigators. “He explained that ‘something just snapped’ after ‘watching everything, just everything getting worse.’”

The DOJ says Cole’s pipe bombs were not discovered until approximately 1 p.m. on Jan. 6. “The FBI explosives examiner assessed that the pipe bombs were constructed using all the components necessary to explode and that they were viable explosive devices,” prosecutors say in the pretrial detention filing.

In their Friday memorandum, the DOJ says Cole’s offenses were “separate from the events of Jan. 6” as he planted explosive devices in publicly accessible locations near the RNC and DNC headquarters “under cover of darkness” on Jan. 5. “The devices did not explode as intended, they remained in plain view when daylight arrived the next day,” the DOJ says. “In the early afternoon on January 6, the bombs were discovered by a passerby and law enforcement in the area of the RNC and DNC. The events at the United States Capitol that day were only starting to unfold.”

Cole initially claimed he traveled to D.C. to show his support for Trump in the Jan. 6 protests and riots before allegedly admitting he went to plant the bombs ahead of the demonstrations and Capitol attack. “I didn’t agree with what people were doing, like just telling half the country that they – that their [votes] – that they just need to ignore it,” Cole allegedly told federal investigators. “In the defendant’s view, if people ‘feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being – you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top.”

Prosecutors note how Cole told federal agents that “something just snapped” in him after “watching everything, just everything getting worse.” They bring up how Cole allegedly told agents he wanted to do something “to the parties” because “they were in charge” and he did not like either party.

Given the focus on the political parties and not Congress, prosecutors say “it is hardly surprising” that Cole chose to target the headquarters of the DNC and RNC and not the Capitol, per the opposition filing. “Moreover, the defendant set the bombs to explode 60 minutes after placing them — i.e., on the night of Jan. 5, 2021,” the DOJ points out.

“It was only happenstance that the devices, which did not explode as intended, sat idle until the next afternoon when the events of Jan. 6 unfolded,” prosecutors conclude. “And, although the defendant was clearly motivated by then-recent events, the evidence shows that his interest in explosives and bombmaking (specifically, pipe bombs) dated back nearly a decade. In short, the defendant was upset about an issue that also motivated many who were convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, but he chose a different target, on a different day, and acted through different means than those to whom the proclamation was directed.”